The UK’s first-ever multi-charity shop Charity Super.Mkt, which aims to promote the circularity of previously-loved clothes and prevent fashion waste, has sold £3mn worth of second-hand fashion since opening its doors in January 2023.
Working with its charity retail partners, including Cancer Research, Havens Hospices and Oxfam, Charity Super.Mkt has popped up in over 12 cities across the UK including Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol and London.
So far, the pop-up stores have prevented 105,109kg of textile waste from reaching landfill, saving an estimated 168,174 cubic metres of water. Charity Super.Mkt stressed these figures reinforce the importance of a sustainably-led approach to fashion by reducing the environmental impacts of clothing waste.
Growth plans are now underway, with a number of new permanent store openings planned throughout the UK in 2025, including Canary Wharf London, Edinburgh and Leeds. Its most recent pop-up location in Spitalfields Market, London, opened on 28 November, and is in partnership with Traid and Havens Hospice. It will be open until the end of January 2025.
Wayne Hemingway, co-founder of Charity Super.Mkt, commented: “When we first set out on this mission, we had no idea whether it would work. We cobbled together a name, a visual identity, repurposed a pile of shop fittings, and assembled eight retail charities together for a four-week experiment in a former Topshop store in Brent Cross which had been graffitied on with an anti-Philip Green staff on its walls!
“Within those four weeks, we showed how charity fashion deserves to be part of a modern retail offer, alongside the heavily-funded fast fashion brands with their marketing clout and retail infrastructure. Now more than ever, fashion is evolving particularly amongst young people who are more conscious of making sustainable choices and seeking out good quality, pre-loved clothing, and turning it into re-loved fashion.
“We are thrilled to have reached our £3 million charity milestone. It is a credit to the charities who have participated, the people who have shopped with us, and to the landlords of our spaces who have been so generous. What’s more, we are now getting enquiries from overseas and from international brands who can see the value in supporting Charity Super.Mkt and the partner charities to deliver even more social and environmental value. What started as a 4-week experiment may now be on its way to creating a new, purposeful, sustainably-focused business model.”
Charity Super.Mkt is also partnering with Ecover, which produces ecologically-friendly cleaning products, with the aim of inspiring consumers to wash new life into second-hand clothes.
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