STOCKHOLM • Swedish business groups last week launched a clothing-sharing campaign that lets users borrow garments and later pass them on to others to promote more sustainable patterns of textile consumption.

Swedish fashion designers such as Filippa K, Weekday and Whyred contributed designs to the collection, which is made available on a website and through social media, tourism promoter Visit Sweden announced.

"Each year, millions of tonnes of textiles are thrown away in Sweden and other countries, even though almost all of them could be recycled, donated or repurposed," said Ms Sofia Kinberg at Visit Sweden, which is jointly owned by the country's tourism industry and the Swedish government.

"The Sharewear collection aims to raise awareness in the industry of this issue, while also offering an alternative solution," she added.

The first person to comment on an image of a designer-branded garment uploaded onto photo-sharing app Instagram will get to wear it for a week before handing it to another person, Visit Sweden said.

"Sharing clothes instead of throwing them away is good for your wallet and good for the environment," said Mr Henrik Selin at government agency the Swedish Institute, another project partner.

Swedish fashion companies saw global sales of 264 billion Swedish krona (S$44 billion) in 2014, said the Association of Swedish Fashion Brands.

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