London is getting ready to hold the Trans Clothing Swap, a project aiming to give transgender people the freedom to shop until they drop without discrimination.

Nearing its eighth run, Lola Olson created the clothing swap with aims Volunteer remove the trouble of shopping that is often experienced by trans and other non-binary identified people.

The idea of the swap is simple enough; you donate your unwanted clothes, and take away clothes that you want. You don’t have to bring clothes to attend, and everything is free. All that is asked is respect for the people in attendance without judgement or assumption of gender.

Speaking to Gay Star News, Olson said: ‘I felt like trans people struggled with finding safe spaces in a lot of different ways.

‘Clothing is particularly difficult because trans people are often expected to "present" as what gender they identify as.’

‘I sought to create a safe space for all trans people where they can come and find clothes, feel free to try them on, and won’t be interrogated or judged concerning their presentation. I do my best to try and make everyone feel welcome and safe to do whatever they like.’

The event is marked as a stealth-friendly event with the label ‘trans’ being removed from any signage. Instead only the purple GI logo will be displayed outside the venue.

In reference to how the event is being received Olson added: ‘It has been difficult to promote and get the word out because I alone have limited resources, but I’ve had some really great support.

‘It’s not been an extremely busy event but the reason I keep doing it even when there are low numbers is for those people who talk to me and tell me that it represents something new for them.’

Olson continued by saying: ‘Some of them have never been in any trans positive spaces. Some of them feel they are just starting out and feel intimidated by other things. I’ll continue to run the event so long as I have the resources and energy because for me it’s definitely proved it’s worth a million times over.’

It is a non-profit event, relying solely on donations and volunteers.

The eighth cloth-swap event will take place on Sunday 18 August, 12 – 4pm, New Unity Church in London.