A bag of clothes that no longer fits your life can become a new outfit on Weena 70, a few minutes’ walk from Rotterdam Centraal. This is where The Swapshop runs its clothing swap shop in Rotterdam Centrum, one of two Rotterdam locations of a concept that started in this city as a pop-up at the end of August 2019. The idea is simple and has stayed that way. You hand in clothing, shoes or accessories you no longer wear, and you receive Swaps in return: credits you spend on items that other swappers brought in before you.
The Swapshop describes itself as a social start-up with one clear aim: to keep clothing and other fashion items in use for longer, and to make swapping the normal thing to do. After that first pop-up in the city centre, the team opened a shop in fashion hub De Wasserij in Rotterdam-Noord in July 2020 and a city-centre store that September. Today there are locations in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and Rotterdam swappers have two addresses to choose from: Weena and the larger store on the Oude Binnenweg. The Weena shop is the smaller of the two, handy if you are passing through the station area or combining a swap with a day in town.
Swapping works in three steps. Bring up to five items per visit: clothing, shoes and accessories for women and men. The team checks that everything is clean and intact, then decides how many Swaps each piece is worth based on the type of item, its condition, the brand and how much demand there is for it. Your Swaps are added to your personal account, which you can follow in The Swapshop app. Then the hunt begins. The rails change constantly because the whole collection is made up of what other people bring in, so you can come across basics, casual pieces, vintage, designer labels or something a bit more daring than you would normally pick. At the till you pay per item with Swaps plus a service fee, which depends on how many Swaps the item is worth. Nothing you like today? Your Swaps stay on your account and do not expire, so you can simply come back another time.
Looking for a clothing swap shop in Rotterdam close to Centraal Station? The Swapshop on Weena is an easy stop between two trains, and it works just as well for clearing out a wardrobe as for finding one specific piece. The concept fits in one sentence: every item on the rails once hung in someone else’s wardrobe, and the next one could come from yours. Want more space and a bigger collection? The Swapshop Rotterdam Oude Binnenweg is a short walk away. Check the current opening days before you go: they are listed on this page.
