Mary Fleming is the founder of Change Clothes, a non-profit that hosts a swap shop in Dublin and runs pop-up outlets and workshops across Ireland. Fleming was a passionate shopper until a visit to Kenya, where she saw a mound of secondhand clothes heaped by a river, the pile so vast and unruly it was spilling into the water. Seeing the consequence of fast fashion and mass consumption, she decided change was in order. A decade later Fleming, now 34, is leading a campaign to prevent waste by swapping, reusing, repairing and repurposing clothes under the inimitable exhortation: “Because secondhand is feckin’ grand.” Change Clothes lets people rent, exchange and buy used clothes and gives tutorials in mending and upcycling frayed garments. Fleming’s team crisscrosses Ireland visiting university campuses, libraries and community centers to give lessons in repairing or repurposing damaged or worn clothes. People’s eyes light up when they discover they can do basic tailoring, she says. Change Clothes outgrew its first location and moved into a new space to accommodate growing demand.
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