John Lewis & Partners is trialling a sustainable pilot at its Oxford shop, inviting their customers to return preloved clothes in exchange for payment per item.
Through this ‘BuyBack’ trial, the Oxford shop will accept all preloved items from any womenswear and menswear brands stocked at John Lewis & Partners from the 20,000 local ‘my John Lewis’ members invited to take part.
In return, these customers will receive £3 per item, up to a maximum of three pieces of clothing, which can then be spent with John Lewis & Partners or Waitrose & Partners in shops or online.
The initiative has been created to make it easy for customers to responsibly dispose of any unwanted clothes bought at John Lewis & Partners, helping to address the increasing volumes of clothing being sent to landfill.
Our customers are becoming increasingly aware of their actions on the environment, so we want to make it easy for them to ensure the products they buy from us have a long life after they no longer have use for them
Stephen Cawley, John Lewis Partner and Head of Sustainability said: “As a leading fashion retailer we know we have a responsibility to help reduce the amount of clothing waste generated and the number of resources used to create clothing.
“Our approach has always been to make high quality garments which last, but inevitably there comes a time when they are no longer worn.
“Our customers are becoming increasingly aware of their actions on the environment, so we want to make it easy for them to ensure the products they buy from us have a long life after they no longer have use for them.”
Julie Blake, Head of Branch at John Lewis & Partners, Oxford added; “We know from the success of the ‘Waitrose Unpacked’ trial in Oxford that there is a lot of local support for sustainability initiatives. We’re looking forward to running this trial and rewarding loyal customers for ensuring pre-loved clothes can be enjoyed and appreciated once more.”
With an estimated 300,000 tonnes of clothing sent to landfill in the UK each year, through this trial John Lewis & Partners guarantees that all clothes brought in will be mended or reworked into a new item, resold, or recycled into new products.
The news follows the announcement that supermarket chain Asda is helping to find new homes for unwanted clothes with a trial of an in-store ‘Re-Loved’ charity clothing shop.
