Hosted in partnership with circular clothing company Verte, a specialist in innovative clothes swapping solutions, the initiative offers local shoppers and families the chance to refresh their wardrobes this spring by swapping pre-loved items in store, giving them a new lease of life.
The return of Primark’s Swap Shops follows the success last year in stores across London, Manchester and Birmingham, where over 800 items were swapped by customers for something new to them.
The Swap Shops will be held exclusively in Primark’s Manchester Market Street store on weekends through April, May and June, just in time for shoppers to pick up a fresh pre-loved wardrobe for Spring:
- Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th April
- Friday 18th & Saturday 19th April
- Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th May
- Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th May
- Saturday 31st May & Sunday 1st June
- Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th June
- Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th June
Local shoppers can find the Swap Shops in Primark’s dedicated event space available on the lower ground floor of its Manchester Market Street Store, next to its Click & Collect desk. This space is also used to support The Fashion School, a community interest company based in London, who are partners of Primark, focused on teaching young people skills that encourage them to keep their clothes in use for longer.
5 Steps to Swap & Shop:
Before anything else, don’t forget to register for the event in advance to avoid disappointment.
- Identify up to five items of women’s or up to ten items of children’s clothing, bags, hats or scarfs from any brand which are in a good condition*.
- Bring your chosen item(s) into store on one of the dates specified.
- Items will be carefully sorted and graded in store, based on a range of criteria such as type of clothing, condition and brand.
- You will be awarded digital tokens per item via the Verte app.
- Use your digital tokens to purchase a pre-loved item of clothing from Verte’s collection in store.
Shoppers are highly encouraged to bring along items to swap, however those without are still able to take part, with Verte tokens available to purchase for £10 for adult tokens and £5 for kids.
Special golden tokens will be awarded to luxury clothing items presented in almost-new condition, which can then be traded in exclusively for other gold-ticket items.
Any un-swapped clothes will be kept for the next swap date, donated to local Manchester charities or placed in Primark’s Textile Takeback clothing donation boxes, which are available in all stores across the UK.
Rich Davis, General Manager at Primark’s Manchester Market Street, said: “We know from our previous Swap Shops how much Mancunians care about giving their clothing a new lease of life. That’s why we’re so pleased to see the popular pop-up back in our store to encourage more people to ‘swap’ their clothes for fresh Spring wardrobes. With Verte’s support, we’ll continue to build a vibrant community of pre-loved fashion enthusiasts who want to find stylish looks that can be worn again and again.”
Jessica Brunt, Founder of Verte, commented: “We’re delighted to be back in the Manchester store following the success of our pilot last year. Being able to partner with a progressive and global brand like Primark means we’re able to expose thousands of people to the concept of swapping and help educate everyone on circularity in a way which is fun and inclusive.”
Primark’s Swap Shops are just one of the ways the international retailer has been making pre-loved clothing more accessible to its customers in store since 2022. It’s also partnered with the Vintage Wholesale Company to offer unique vintage clothes via Wornwell, which is currently in eight stores across the UK, including Market Street.
In addition, Primark’s ‘Love it for Longer’ repair workshop programme runs all year round nationwide and teaches shoppers basic repair and sewing techniques. They’re available to customers completely free of charge in selected stores and accessible to everyone online via easy-to-follow repair videos on Primark.com.