A bit like wife swapping but without the sex, Swishing involves women, wine and their wardrobes. Ladies get together to swap gorgeous clothes and party at the same time.

The brilliant wheeze was hatched by green PR outfit Futerra, which has held three events in the UK and seen the idea picked up as far afield as New York and Australia.

Futerra's Lucy Shea explains why: 'almost one million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year and at least 50 per cent of this stuff is recyclable. We wanted to find an eco-fabulous way to tackle this runaway textile train and came up with swishing.'

Virginia Rowe, 31, editor of StyleWillSaveUs.com and a maven of vintage glamour herself, recently attended two swapping events and has joined the converted.

'Part of the fun is seeing clothes you've loved go to a good home. I went to a 'swishing' event last night, and took a pair of shoes and a handbag. The nicest thing was seeing a girl pounce on my old shoes. She loved them!'

Swishing alone can't cope with all textile waste, so sending unwanted clothes to charity shops, jumble sales and textile banks is still very important.

The Salvation Army is the biggest collector and processes 17,000 tonnes a year. Clothes are given to the homeless, sold in charity shops or sold in developing countries in Africa, the Indian sub-continent and parts of Eastern Europe.

Nearly 70 per cent of items put into clothing banks are reused as clothes, and any un-wearable items are sold to merchants to be recycled and used as factory wiping cloths.

Meanwhile, swishing is spreading like a friendly virus. Good Energy thought it was such a fabulous idea, it held an event for the women of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. Famous fop Lawrence Llewleyn-Bowen and his wife Jackie opened the event.

Juliet Davenport, Chief Executive of Good Energy explains why a green electricity company got involved in clothes swapping. 'If everyone in the world lived as we do in the UK, we'd need three planets to support us. Swishing is a simple way to bring us a small step closer to One Planet Living. It lends some fun to a serious subject and can put great new outfits in our wardrobe for free.'

Swishing is strictly for the girls at the moment, but LLB was heard to mention he had one or two suits he wouldn't mind swishing... or should that be swishbuckling?

Useful swishing info:

What is swishing?
Dictionary definition: To rustle, as silk.
Swisher's definition: To rustle clothes from friends. How to swish
Pick a date and place, download an invite and send it to your friends
Use rails, ladders, chairs to lay clothes out ? get creative
Once most attendees have arrived, explain the rules and then countdown to the Opening of the Swish
The Rules of The Swish: when the swish opens, whatever people take is theirs; everybody must bring at least one item but can leave with as many as they like; no one can claim items before the Opening of the Swish.

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