Our Social Impact

It is not always obvious, but as a social enterprise, our social mission is just as important as our environmental one. 

Many of you know us for selling preloved kids fashion, which is so important, as clothing reuse is the best option for slowing down the impact of clothing consumption on climate change. The less new things we consume and the more we repair and reuse, the better. And with enough clothing already in circulation to provide for our world population eight times over, we have loads to choose from.

But as well as this crucial environmental mission, we also have our social mission. Ever since ApparelXchange started, we have given clothing and footwear away. We started with school uniforms, which is so important for children to feel a part of their school community. Since then, we have grown so much and we now provide clothing packages for all parts of a child’s life, including warm layers, party outfits, sleepwear, sportswear and so much more - we can provide clothing for pretty much every eventuality!

To make sure we reach people who need clothing packages, we work with our social partners including local authorities, schools, charities, social enterprises and third party agencies. They are often already providing support for families so they are perfectly positioned to help us get our clothing to where it needs to be.

The way it works is this: we have an online referral form, which is shared with our partners who complete it on behalf of a family and the form captures information on what they need, sizing and types of clothing needs. We use donations to fulfil the packages, and these are all closely quality-checked - we make sure they are in really good condition. So, while we do also sell what we receive in donations to support our mission, donations are also vital to fulfil our free-to-access packages. 

Over the last few years we have evolved our operations to ensure we remain a responsible business and as a social enterprise, we need to place value on our services. Providing packages still has overheads, for our warehouse, our staff (a living wage), covering volunteer expenses and processing clothing, which in reality means that while we receive donations and provide clothing for free to the user, this still comes at a cost. 

We have had to work on busting some myths around providing preloved clothing and we've also had to have some uncomfortable conversations with some of our previous partners who expect services for free. So in general, we need to secure funds to support us in providing these free packages, and we are fortunate to have been supported by some fantastic organisations including but not exclusive to:

• JMA Trust
• Lottery
• Glasgow City Council (Glasgow Helps)
• Crowdfunder
• Tesco
• Cooperative Bank
• Hillhead Primary School Resilience Fund
• Hutcheson Primary
• Avanta Foundation
• LUSH
• Glasgow Life
• Maryhill Integration Network
• Mears Housing
• Govanhill Housing Association
• Cathcart & District Housing Association
• New Gorbal Housing Association

Here are some stats outlining what we've managed to deliver over the years, not forgetting this is from the very start with a few bumps arising from the pandemic…

We’re pretty proud of these statistics. They really bring home the impact of what we do - the reuse and redistribution of the city's clothing resources, reducing some of the impacts of child poverty, while reducing the environmental impact on our planet.

So, please continue to donate to us and shop with us so we can carry on helping local city and our planet!