Site News (8th August 2006)

New members: We are really excited to welcome new swappers from as local as our home town in the Netherlands to as far away as Adelanto in the US! Welcome!

What are we currently working on?
We are currently making improvments to the site's functionality. We are applying to register the site as an official non-profit organisation. (More details will follow shortly)

Open Wardrobe on Girl Wide Web
Magazine Bust has listed openwardrobe at their girl wide web directory.

How did open wardrobe start and who is behind it?

Cheryl Gallaway (Brighton, UK, 1979)
Concept, design and development.

I have always enjoyed expressing myself through the clothes I wear. Excited by fashion. I would search for special and unique items. Borrowing from my Mum and friends. I especially liked my friend Lauras clothes, and Laura always loved the clothes I would wear. Sometimes we even wore the same as each other. Alongside this passion for my friends fashion - I was training in media design.

In January 2006 I suggested to my friend that we post our clothes that we didnt wear anymore on a blog - take a look - and then swap with each other. Not only would we enjoy telling each other about the item we wanted to swap - but we were recycling and this felt really good.

I was looking for meaning in the clothes I wear. A meaning that has been lost because of mass production. Garments have become "disposable" we wear them once and then throw them away. Not only does this method erase the sentimental or unique histories of garments - but in times when global warming and textile production are on the rise - it seemed a good idea to create a tool for others to swap and recycle - adding stories and meaning to the clothes we wear.

I graduated in June 2006 with open wardrobe as my project and had involved family and friends in the process. Open wardrobe is now online and being used still by me, my friends and family.

Aswell as working as an interactive/web designer - I am also using these skills and a passion for fashion to facilitate clothes swaps and stories for others at open wardrobe!!!

My favourite items: Jeans, black lace, long boots.

Arjan Wind (Hoorn, NL, 1986)
Programming ninja.

Sally Clarke (Adelaide, AUS, 1978)
Copywriter.

My relationship with fashion has been a rollercoaster ride since my first party dress, age one. From tomboy to goth to neo-punk, to pyjama-wearing law student to pink-loving girly grrl... I've always loved provoking people with fashion, not just baring the body, but mixing up peoples' expectations.

Recently, though, i have felt torn between my love of fashion and the emptiness and disposability of cheap mass-marketed clothing.

I see openwardrobe as a silver lining solution to this grey cloud > combining my passion for sharing stories with my friends (the nuts and bolts of my happiness!) and procuring new - to me :) - and exciting garments.

Many Thanks for your ongoing support to:

All Swappers (you know who you are!), Natalie from Blitz, Sasson Kung, Tsila.org, Dragana Antic, Matthew Fuller, Femke Snelting, Kristina Andersen, Graham Harwood, Andreas Broeckmann, * RoB *.

Open Wardrobe - Open Source

Open Waradrobe would like to make its swapping software free and available to all out there that would like to play / use it for other or like-minded purposes. I am currently working on documenting the software to make this possible :)

Contact

If you would like to know more about the project please email me (Cheryl) using the contact form below.