Bradford charity shop launches upcycling hub to transform damaged clothing

The Re-Fashion Hub will focus on the upcycling and reuse of donated clothes and textiles that are damaged, too worn or deemed unsuitable for sale in their current state and would otherwise be sent to recycling merchants.

The Re-Fashion Hub is all about reusing and repairing items to give them a new life, either as the same product with repairs, with upcycling carried out or redesigned into totally different items, such as creating handbags from old jeans.

The Hub has been created on a zero budget to date, fitted out with six sewing machines kindly donated by Singer Sewing Machines, and a commercial washing machine provided by Miele.

A team of volunteers have been recruited to staff the workshop, where they will give a new lease of life to unsaleable items donated to Barnardo’s shops in the region. Items needing small repairs will have buttons and zips fixed, marks washed out and clothing will be de-bobbled, for items to be resold in Barnardo’s stores.

The charity will also be rescuing haberdashery from old items of clothing to resell, such as buttons and zips. Any textiles that can’t be rescued will be given other uses, including patches for quilting, turned info fabric twine for rugs, or shredded to create stuffing for items such as draught excluders.

Barnardo’s retail sustainability team, who are managing the Re-Fashion Hub, have linked with Bradford School of Art Fashion Dept at Bradford College, to involve fashion students from September. Students will be creating items and fashion ranges from unusable donations in the workshop as part of their courses, which will then be sold in the charity’s stores afterwards.

Sonja Green, Head of Sustainability at Barnardo’s, said: “Whilst a large proportion of the pre-loved clothing that has kindly been donated to Barnardo’s is re-sold across our 600 retail stores, some of the items we receive are unfortunately in an unsuitable condition.

“The launch of our first Re-Fashion Hub is an exciting initiative for the charity. Not only will it allow us to make good use of so many more items donated to us and support us in our sustainability aims by significantly reducing the amount of textiles we send for recycling, but this project will also generate more revenue for Barnardo’s, allowing us to support even more children and families that need our help.

“We are extremely grateful to Singer Sewing Machines and Miele for partnering with us and donating the equipment needed to set up Barnardo’s first upcycling hub, and we look forward to welcoming the community into the workshop through involvement in fashion courses and group classes to be held there.”

Stephen Bogod of Singer Sewing Machines UK said: “The importance of sustainability and giving new life to garments and other items is one of the core messages we are trying to convey at Singer through our ‘Don’t Throw It, Sew It’ campaign. So, the opportunity to work with Barnardo’s on this great sustainability initiative is one we are very happy to become involved with.”

Samantha Dent, Marketing Manager, GB & Ireland at Miele Professional, said: “When we heard that Barnardo’s planned to launch an upcycling scheme for pre-loved textiles, we felt that one of our commercial washing machines would be put to good use, helping to give unwanted clothing a second life. With sustainability part of our brand fabric, we are delighted to be able to contribute to a cause that supports both the charity and the environment.”

The Barnardo’s Re-Fashion Hub is looking to run small community sewing groups and lessons in the near future, teaching people how to do small repairs that can make their clothing last longer and minimise the need to purchase new clothing.

Each year, Barnardo’s receives around 6,000 tonnes of donated clothes and textiles to its 600 stores across the UK that are damaged or unsuitable for sale and are sent to the recycling merchants.

Barnardo’s hopes to introduce further Re-Fashion Hubs across the UK following on from this pilot initiative in Bradford.

Anyone interested in volunteering at the Bradford Re-Fashion Hub can find out more by visiting Volunteering Opportunities | Barnardo's Volunteering (barnardos.org.uk) or email [email protected]

To find out more about Barnardo’s retail stores, follow @barnardosretail