Meet the Gen Z founders behind CLOSWAP, the resale startup turning secondhand into a cultural currency
LONDON, UK. June 16th, 2025 – A groundbreaking sustainable fashion brand set up by three students has now opened its flagship store in Finsbury after re-circulating over 20,000 garments from pop-ups alone.
CLOSWAP is one of the UK’s most buzzworthy sustainable fashion startups set up by three students who were frustrated at the slow pace of sustainable fashion. They decided to offer a faster, fairer alternative – and build a community around it.
The Finsbury store invites people to bring in their items, and CLOSWAP buys them on the spot either in cash or store credit. No apps, no listings – just instant resale.
CLOSWAP started with a clothing rack on Brick Lane and three students – Maria Remy, Peter Zakhar, and Dominik Vesely – with a cardboard sign that said: “Swap your outfit with a stranger.” That guerrilla stunt went viral, and the response was immediate.
University inboxes and student accommodations were flooded with requests. “We had to run up to three events a day,” said Remy, CLOSWAP’s marketing lead. The team even hired external crews just to meet demand.
Through 45 pop‑ups with UCL, King’s College London, Istituto Marangoni, UAL, University of Westminster and more, as well as working with student housing like Yugo, Chapter, and Scape, CLOSWAP has re‑circulated over 20,000 garments, saving approximately 72,900kg of CO₂ and 54.7 million litres of water.
The success of the brand has led to it winning the Mayor of London’s Entrepreneur Award 2024, Startup of the Year at the British Business Awards 2024 and more recently it was named Best Innovative Clothing Platform at the Global Leaders & Business Awards 2025.
CLOSWAP’s new Finsbury home is more than a store – it’s a movement. Thursday nights see “CLOSWAP Thursdays” come alive with DJs, community activations, and even impromptu tattooing – a fan once got the brand’s logo inked mid-set. “We’re not just another thrift shop,” Remy said. “We’re building a brand people feel part of.”
While in-person experiences drive the brand, the digital is equally ambitious. CLOSWAP’s app, dubbed ‘Tinder for clothes’, is being enhanced with AI-driven matching and a planned move onto the blockchain, creating a new kind of clothing-backed currency. Remy added: “We want clothes to have liquidity.”
Now CLOSWAP is actively fundraising, with UAE and foreign investors already committed. That capital will fuel a planned U.S. expansion, targeted at cities like New York and Los Angeles.
For more information, visit www.closwap.com.
ENDS