he items going to landfill,” explained Elsibai. The new app will allow customers to swap their unwanted items for digital coins, which can then be spent at participating brands. By downloading a free shipping label from the app, customers can send the items to Swappay, which will then donate the clothing to not-for-profit organisations and charities. Through the app, customers can generate return labels, manage their transactions and even share their coins with other users.  As Swappay accepts clothing from all brands, it offers people a democratic way of shopping sustainably, said Elsibai. “Hopefully what it means is that along the fashion journey, people can feel less guilty about what they purchase. At the end of the day, fashion is really fun, it’s about self-expression, it brings people happiness, it makes people feel good and often, people want change, they want to update their wardrobes,” he said.  “We don’t want to say, ‘You shouldn’t [buy it]’, because that’s what fashion exists for, but there’s a way to feel less guilty about it and make it more affordable, because Swappay will save you money.”  Benefits for retailers For the soft launch on January 26, ABA’s nine brands will be on board with Swappay, including Calli, Tussah, BWLDR, Chancery and more.  By getting on board the new platform, retailers will be able to reach a new customer base and for a fee, Swappay will offer marketing services.  “It has a strong call-to-action, which every retailer loves, because it’s getting their items to the checkout and that’s what Swappay does for the retailer. It gets customers to their site and it engages them. Then customers have a vested interest in making a purchase because that’s how they release the value of the coin,” explained Elsibai. Swappay retail partners will also have full control over their fashion currency and dictate the value of their digital coins. According to Elsibai, this flexibility gives consumers more options to shop with their coins, decreasing the chances of clothing ending up in landfill.  “The bigger the Swappay network becomes, the bigger the impact we will have on cleaning up Australia’s fashion mess,” he said.  Elsibai and his team will spend the next few months introducing the general public to the concept and educating them on how it works. It will also be an opportunity for Swappay to listen to customer feedback and implement any changes before it eventually expands more broadly. “When we talk to people, there are always lots of questions. How can they get something for nothing? It’s a weird concept. It’s nuts, it’s bonkers, it really is, but in a cool way,” he said.  Elsibai is also currently exploring different ways to monetise Swappay, including perhaps charging participating brands for a marketing service and collaborating with buy-now-pay-later vendors.  “We’re confident that there are lots of ways we can monetise. We want it to be sustainable, we’re not relying on outside investment. It has to stand on its own two feet, and we’re very confident we can do that and that it has long-term viability,” he said.   Connecting with consumers According to Associate Professor Jana Bowden, Swappay has worked out a way to gamify the shopping experience, although its success will be reliant on a critical mass of participating retailers.  “It takes the usual buy-use-throw consumer behaviour and replaces it with a buy-use-gain model. It will have consumers asking themselves, ‘Why throw-out when I can trade up?’” she said.  “Swappay might just be the silver bullet for retailers that are looking to demonstrate more depth of sustainability street cred and start a positive conversation with consumers around conservation and conscious consumption.”