Why swapping is the new shopping

The latest trend among the seriously style savvy is swapping.

From groups of friends hosting informal evenings to offload their cast-offs, to city-wide swapping events, international internet based swaps and even trendy club nights dedicated to exchanging clothes, switching that bought-on-impulse Marc Jacobs mini (in a colour that never really suited you) for someone else's once-worn Stella McCartney cigarette pants is all the rage.

What's mine can be yours: Swapping is 'more fun' than shopping

Stylist and personal shopper Camilla Yonge is one of those spearheading the swap revolution.

Her Y Swap Shop Parties came about after clients kept asking her what they should do with clothes they really didn't want any more.

"A lot of people find eBay too much hassle but have clothes they think are too nice to go to a charity shop, or are imbued with too many memories just to let go to a stranger.

"They wanted something that was going to be easier, more personal, and a bit more fun. A swap party seemed like the answer," she explains.

Her parties now attract up to 30 women, who each bring with them as many as ten items they want to swap.

For each item that they bring they are given a 'swap coupon' - so the more items you bring, the more you can go home with.

Camilla and her assistants arrange all the items so they can be viewed, and any valued at over ￡200 are separated out and swapped separately.

"We have boutique swaps where people bring Temperley, Chloe, Mulberry; and then we have other swaps which are more about Zara and Topshop.

"I try to encourage everything from designer to High Street. It generally all works out because I make sure people have a good idea of what they can expect and so what they should bring."

Once all the clothes have been sorted, the swappers are then invited to identify the items they want.

When more than one person wants the same thing, a name is pulled out of a hat.

There are no guarantees that you'll find anything you like, and you don't get to take things back if you don't - but it's very rare that anyone goes home without something they like.

"It's a very enjoyable way to shop," says Camilla.

"If you bought a beautiful dress last year but you're not going to wear it this year because you're pregnant, swapping it for something you can wear, or for a lovely handbag, makes sense."

She also finds that people are more adventurous when they're not paying hard cash for something.

"They might try a hat or a kaftan that they would never consider otherwise. When something's effectively free, you're going to experiment more."

Jemma Watkins, 27, a PR account executive from Bristol, recently organised a swap party for herself and some friends.

"We all love to shop, and we all had things in our wardrobes that we never wore, so a swap party seemed like a brilliant way to get some new clothes without spending money," she says.

"About 12 of us got together with some wine and nibbles.

"We were all roughly the same size and there was a good mix of glamorous and hippy clothes, smart and casual ones, too.

"Pretty much everything was High Street, as we all tend to shop in the same places, and everyone came away with at least one thing they liked.

"I definitely want to do it again, but I'd invite different people every time so you get real variety in terms of what people bring."

It was this desire to expand her swapping circle that inspired Judy Berger, a former fashion stylist, to set up internet-based swapping service www.whatsmineisyours.com.

"I used to swap clothes with friends, which was great, but if you're different sizes or have different tastes, it can be frustrating.

"The idea of using a website to help people swap with people who live on different sides of the country, or even different sides of the world, seemed the perfect solution," explains Judy, who set up the site in November 2004.

It now has over 20,000 members worldwide and nearly 8,000 have used the site in the last month to swap everything from designer handbags to vintage dresses and High Street staples.

Swapping obviously makes sense on a practical level, but one of the biggest motivating factors seems to be that it perfectly unites two of the strongest, and potentially opposing, recent lifestyle trends.

Over the past few decades, fashion has become increasingly disposable. Clothes are made more quickly and cheaply than ever before, and consequently we've become a society with a huge appetite for the newest new thing.

We see a pair of metallic leggings in Vogue and we want them instantly. But as soon as we have them in our possession, we spy Kate Moss in a pair of leopard print leggings and suddenly the metallics are passe.