Hey Hannah! What is Circolare Club?

Hey Lucia!

Circolare Club is a personalised clothing swap system and sustainable fashion community.

Basically, you send in a parcel of your pre-loved clothes, fill out a customised survey where you detail your sizes, style, likes and dislikes, and receive back a similar sized Mystery Style Bundle full of pre-loved and vintage clothes, handpicked just for you.

The system allows people to refresh their wardrobe, keeping  their clothes in circulation and out of landfill sustainably and affordably. To sum it up, Circolare Club is a size inclusive, closed loop, circular fashion system.  

I also use our Instagram as a platform to write, share, and discuss information about sustainability and environmentalism, both in the fashion industry, and in a broader sense.

“Circolare” means “to circulate” in Italian, so (without sounding totally cheesy) Circolare Club is not only about circulating preloved clothes, but also about sharing ideas and info!

I think there is a perceived difficulty around sustainable fashion- either it is too expensive, boring, thrifting is time consuming, size exclusive, or doesn’t suit everyone’s style. With Circolare Club I wanted to try to remove all the tricky things that often dominate how we think about sustainable fashion, and make something really accessible, simple, and fun. The most important thing for me was to create something that could be purchased by teenagers with their pocket-money, their babysitting money, or for Uni students on a budget. Swapping seemed like the perfect solution, as it's sustainable, affordable, and also caters to the novelty and fun of getting “new” clothes- which I think is really important for young people who are playing around with fashion and finding their own personal style.

Such a cool idea, have you seen any similar initiatives around?

SWOP Store in Newtown Sydney is an awesome consignment store focused on swapping and selling designer and true vintage pieces! I loved SWOP, and wanted to create my own swap-based system that a slightly younger demographic could get involved in- so for example, Circolare Club does take fast fashion pieces and accessories, as long as they are in good condition. When I was in high school, I was also totally obsessed with the i-Girl mystery bundles. The girl who styled them was this super cool US-based youtuber who would put together these amazing mystery bundles, but these were always out of my price range as they were made up from vintage and deadstock pieces. So the personalised mystery bundle was definitely inspired by that. Basically, I wanted to create something that 16 year old Hannah would have loved and been able to get around!

What inspired you to start it?

Circolare Club was your classic lockdown project. Sustainable fashion is something I’ve been really passionate about for a long time. I was super bored in the first few weeks of lockdown, and after some encouragement from my friends I decided to do something about it!

Ever since I was little, I have loved fashion, clothes, and dressing up, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve found it really difficult to reconcile my love for clothes with the monstrous impact of the fashion industry on the planet.

In Australia alone, every 10 minutes, 6000 kgs of textile waste end up in landfill- many of which are still in good wearable condition!

In Australia, young women are the largest consumers of textiles, and producers of textile waste, so I wanted to do something that would really speak to that demographic. 

 My younger sister always asked me to style outfits for her when she went to parties, and some of my favourite pieces that I own are hand-me-downs from my mum or aunty (who both vacuum sealed ALL of their clothes from the 90s, lucky me!)

So I've had a long term love affair with second-hand fashion. 

Awesome! How do you choose the clothing people receive?

Once you purchase a Swap Pack online, you are sent a link to a survey where you fill out your sizes, measurements, likes, dislikes, favourite aesthetics, and your style icons. You also have the option to link your Instagram/ Depop/ Pinterest boards if you want to get more specific!

All of my inventory is organised by size, then as the month goes on I slowly start mixing, matching, styling and  putting together each bundle based on the information in each of the Style Surveys.

For the Original and Super Swap Packs I also write styling suggestions for each piece I include. I get really invested in each person’s bundle! 

How many orders would you receive a month?

I’ve only been in business for the past 3 months, but so far around 10-15 orders per month. 

I can see this being super successful and expanding! Where do you see the program in five years?

Thank you, I hope so! Ideally, I’d love to have a dedicated stock space (I am currently operating out of my bedroom!) and be able to potentially do Circolare Club part, or even full-time. 

I think it would be awesome to partner with fashion brands to divert their deadstock and past seasons garments away from landfill and into circulation. 

I’d also love to host irl swap events or “pop-up-swaps” where people can bring in their clothes and mingle with other people interested in fashion and sustainability.