Tauschladen / Swap-Shop

Why?
We want to offer an example of an eco-friendly and socially-responsible place, based on the share economy, and not focussed on money. Constantly needing money in order to acquire things limits our freedom and contributes to limiting others freedom as well.

New STUFF, including clothes, costs the earth in its production (chemical dyes polute waterways, cotton production requires detrimental fertilisers etc), exploits workers (think 'sweat shops,' remember Bangladesh clothing factory fire, for eg.) and then leaves piles of waste (estimated 10 million tonnes of textile waste per year in landfills...)

We want to avoid all this consumer-chaos by SHARING things we no longer use, and instead of buying new things, trying to find them here in our shop.

How and What?
We rent this space, with the use of donations and run by volunteers. It is open for everyone, young and old, with or without money, male and female or both, German or from Mars, it really doesn't matter. What matters is to respect the place, and not just use it to offload crappy or unusable things, or to find things to later sell and make a profit from. It's quite simple: Bring what you can, take what you need.

We also offer sewing machines and workspace to repair clothes, and good sewing tips (depending who is working that day...).