Trans Support Hub - UK

We’re here at Social Refuge, Manchester until 4 today.
Come say hi and pick up some new (to you) clothes and accessories.

🎉 Preparations are underway for our Trans Support Hub Clothes Swap in Manchester on 13th July!

There’s now a donation bin in Social Refuge so you can drop off any gender-affirming items such as gaffs, packers, binders, breast forms, STP, and Trans Tape (or similar).

These will be given away to attendees at our event so your support is greatly appreciated!

Unfortunately, we don't have space to take clothes donations in the days leading up to the event but we're opening the doors at 11:30am to collect clothes ready for swapping so come and say hi to us at Social Refuge Manchester.

Edit… we now have enough volunteers 😊

We’re looking for at least two volunteers on Saturday. Can you help??! 🙏

Unfortunately our volunteers have had to drop out, leaving us short.

If you can’t volunteer yourself, we’d appreciate it if you can share this post.

The volunteer needs to be over 18, able to put clothes on hangers and look out for rips and stains, and can take as many clothes as they want. It’s 11.15-4.30 at Social Refuge, Great Ancoats Street, Manchester.

We’re looking forward to our first clothes swap in Derby. The link to more info and to book your ticket is in the comments.
***rUK Derby Museums

Our volunteer, Elly, has written an insightful blog about her experience as a Pansexual.

It’s well worth a read!

Why I am not proud of being Pansexual But I am proud to be part of the LGBTQIA+ community

Do you remember that time we appeared in The Metro?!

If you haven't seen it yet, you can see our story here https://metro.co.uk/2024/04/21/loads-old-clothes-transitioning-knew-give-20672179/
💙 💗 💛 🖤 💜

I want my old clothes to give another trans person gender euphoria There are so many moments that melt my heart from our clothes swaps.

What’s the difference between any clothes swap and our clothes swaps?!
S 🎉🌈🪩 QUEERNESS 🎉🌈🪩
We provide a space to explore style and gender, trans specific items and a judgement free environment 🥰

Thank you to all those who came to our Clothes Swap on Saturday in Leeds. We counted over 100 visits from swappers 🤩

We swapped countless items from coats, bags, shoes, binders and much more. We’ve saved so many things from going to landfill, and that fills our hearts! 💙💗💜💛

We also had some soaps, bookmarks and pins to give away 🫧🧼

We avoid taking pictures of attendees for their privacy so you’ll have to settle for some of us running the event and volunteers.

Thank you to our sponsor Ascentant Accountancy, you are much loved! 🥰

And thank you to the ongoing support of True Self Wealth Ltd OutBritain, our AMAZING volunteers and Wharf Chambers for providing the space!!!

It’s been too long since we’ve brought our + Clothes Swaps to On Sunday we’ll be BACK 🤩👖🧣👗👚🧥🩳👔👕 You’ll find the link to more details in the comments.

You wouldn’t know I’m Trans just by looking. Being able to hide keeps us safe sometimes but some days we need to be visible for those who feel like they’re in this alone. ***r

We just wanted to say a huge thank you to those who came to the Clothes Swap on Sunday.
We had a great time, met some lovely people who found some great threads.
We’re already looking forward to our upcoming events:
7th of April at Wharf Chambers in Leeds 3.30-8pm
2nd of August at Derby Museum, further details to be confirmed
13th of July we’ll be back at Social Refuge 12-4pm

Thank you again to our sponsor Ascentant Accountancy run by Kevin Drew.
Thank you to True Self Wealth Ltd and OutBritain for their ongoing support, and to our volunteers Luce Carter and Katie Bird you absolute legends!
And finally, thank you to Q***rlit for hosting us at Social Refuge.

We have raised £75!

We’re chuffed with the amount we’ve raised so far. This year we’re upping our game to reach out to more areas to put on more clothes swaps.

We need your support so we can help our community and our environment.

Come and join us to make a real difference and have the chance of winning great prizes.

Support Trans Support Hub CIC on The Rainbow Lottery Trans Support Hub CIC is offering you the chance to win £25,000 and help raise much needed funds.

The LGBT Youth Scotland Organisation have a stack of resources available to help young people and their support network including guides, tips and other interesting reports, all available to view for free, and its for everyone, not just those in Scotland! 🏳️‍⚧️

https://www.lgbtyouth.org.uk/resources/

Being part of the LGBTQ+ community can bring a sense of community and understanding, but it also can bring its own struggles, especially around mental health.
Mind Out - the LGBTQ+ mental health service have some great resources available to anyone who feels they may benefit from it. 🌈🏳️‍⚧️
️
https://mindout.org.uk/resources/

Did you know 92 million tonnes of textile waste is produced every year?!*

We did. LGBTQ+ Clothes Swaps help stop clothes from going to landfill.

If you know anyone who wants to start their own LGBTQ+ Clothes Swaps let them know that we're here to help.

We can't spare enough time to take our Clothes Swaps around the UK unfortunately. But we can save clothes from going to landfill by teaching other groups everything we've learned since we started our swaps.

Did you know we are part of the Rainbow Lottery? You can support us in our quest to help get our LGBTQ+ clothes swaps to more and more people and locations by purchasing a ticket for just £1 each, or even just sharing this post!

Any and all help is always greatly appreciated! 🌈

https://www.rainbowlottery.co.uk/support/trans-support-hub

Today is so we want to take a moment to share our thoughts and love with all those affected including those who have sadly lost their lives to Transgender related hate and violence and also the loved ones left behind.
🏳️‍⚧️

This is Katie Bird. This is our founder’s (Jamie’s) wife.

When Jamie thought about putting on Clothes Swaps she helped keep him from getting overwhelmed. She’s been there at every event

You’ll usually find her helping people find new clothes, lifting and carrying things around and organising out volunteers.

We want to take this opportunity to thank Katie for her hard work. 🙏💙💗💜💛

It's Trans Awareness Week. If you weren't aware that Trans people exist I'd be surprised.
Here's what you might not know...

Transitioning doesn't come cheap or easily. Trans admin is a drain on time, headspace and financial costs. Trans admin includes:
💗 Co-ordinating medical professionals
💙 Changing documents such as passports and driving licenses
💗 Email addresses and log-ins to every online account
💙 Buying new clothes, shoes and accessories

We're here to make buying new clothes, shoes and accessories a thing of the past. If you can swap instead of shopping it:
💫 Reduces costs of transitioning
💫Takes away the risk of buying something that doesn't feel authentically you
💫Helps other people when you donate your old clothes
💫Prevents clothes going to landfill

Here's a glow up of our founder, Jamie Lowe 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Happy Birthday to Trans Support Hub founder Jamie! 🎂
His vision, experiences and passion brought everyone together and helped form the company into what it is today, all stemming from our very first Clothes Swap.
We all love getting together and running Clothes Swaps and other things related to TSH and this is all thanks to Jamie's hard work!

It's the start of Trans Awareness Week.

We'd like to honour all of the Trans people who have been victims of hate and violence.

Our hearts go out to you and your loved ones.

This is Patrick Dickinson one of our directors.
When Jamie started the Clothes Swaps this legend was so supportive of the events he travelled all the way from Edinburgh to Manchester to help out.
Patrick always had huge ideas about the events and in no time at all we were talking about making Clothes Swaps national events.
If you’ve been to our Clothes Swaps before you’ll have seen Patrick trying everything on, and helping people find their new outfits
Outside of Trans Support Hub Patrick runs OutBritain UK’s first LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce.

We get overwhelmed sometimes with how many clothes people generously donate at the Clothes Swaps so we often end up with more clothes than we have room to store.
So what happens to them? Well instead of them going to waste, Luce takes excess clothes to nearby clothes donation places including the Salvation Army donation bins and local charity shops.
Even clothes deserve a new and safe home!

Meet the team…
This is Jamie (he/they) who founded Trans Support Hub.

It all began when Jamie transitioned and couldn’t face parting with his pre-transition clothes. He thought a clothes swap would be better to support the LGBTQ+ community.

Just over a year later we’ve started helping other charities, community groups etc with starting their own clothes swaps. By teaching others how to run their own events we can help more people than we ever thought possible.

Outside of Trans Support Hub Jamie is a husband, a dad of 2 kids and 2 cats. He runs his own Financial Planning practice which provides LGBTQ+ specific financial advice.

One of the topics that comes up a lot when we run Clothes Swaps is why we get involved and do all this for free. The same answers come up time and again between all of the directors and wonderful volunteers. We all love supporting the LGBTQIA+ community and seeing the joy on people's faces as they go from shy to proud as they try on outfits that more suits how they see themselves, allowing them to explore their style.
Plus it provides free clothes to people transitioning who often find their body changes so quickly it can get really expensive to keep up with clothes that fit.
We also love the sustainability aspect of them, saving unloved clothes from the landfill and instead giving them a new life with someone new.

We’re looking for an LGBTQ+ charity who might be interested in starting their own Clothes Swaps. 👖🧣👗👚🧢

Clothes Swaps are amazing for community engagement and the environment. 🥰🌍🌱

We know from starting our own swaps that it can be a challenge to work out what you need to do. That’s what we’re here for! 🤝👌

We’re a Community Interest Company that helps other Charities, Social Enterprises, Community Interest Companies etc to learn from us.

The criteria:
💛 They must be in the England, Scotland or Wales
💜 They need to be thinking about putting on regular events
💙 They will need to find a venue and volunteers on the day, and invite people to the event

What we do:
🧡 Give you a list of things you will need (you can borrow ours for the first one)
💚 Show you how we organise it on the day
🩷 We’re hear to answer questions, not just on the day but we can share ideas and feedback on an ongoing basis 💡👍
🖤 We’re working on a pack to give each new swap organiser which includes leaflets, funding application, banner design and posters

Inbox us for more information

Meet the team…
This is Luce (any pronouns) our clothes swap coordinator, app developer and all round legend.

Luce and our founder Jamie have been friends over 13 years. Jamie said,

‘Luce couldn’t have been more supportive when he transitioned. They have always been supportive but transitioning happened at a tough time of life and Luce’s support means the world.’

We really appreciate Luce’s help especially because they are part of our team during their time outside of a full time job.

Luce Carter is a proudly neurodiverse Microsoft MVP, Twilio Champion and Developer Advocate for MongoDB, based in Manchester. In other words…

A fancy smarty pants!!

On Saturday we spread the love of Clothes Swaps. It was amazing to see you start your own regular events.
For anyone who’s looking to go to a Clothes Swaps in Stockport make sure you follow

Forward thank you for having us!