Donate Clothes Turns 1 – Happy Birthday To Us!
It’s been 12 months since we launched our clothes collection service – and what a year it’s been.
To celebrate turning 1, we’re bringing together some highlights of the past 12 months and looking to the year ahead, as we continue to expand into new areas and onboard new partner charities.
Most importantly, we wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you.
It’s been an incredible year and we couldn’t have done it without you. Your support is hugely appreciated by the Donate Clothes team and our wonderful partner charities.
The stats: We’ve collected over 180 tonnes of your preloved clothes
First things first. We’re incredibly proud to announce that – since 1 October 2021 – we’ve collected over 180 tonnes of preloved items from your doorsteps. By donating these items, not only are you raising funds for a British charity of your choice. You’re also:
- Doing your part to keep 336,000 tonnes of used clothing out of UK landfill – that’s £140 million worth of clothes that are binned each year
- Taking a stance against the throwaway clothes culture that’s getting progressively worse – many items of clothing are worn just 7 to 10 times before being discarded
Our charities: Boot Out Breast Cancer, Troop Aid and Shout
We couldn’t look back at our first year without mentioning our incredible partner charities who are so grateful for your support.
- Boot Out Breast Cancer is committed to ensuring that every penny it raises is spent on new treatment, clinical trials and breast cancer equipment in the NHS
- Troop Aid helps injured service personnel by giving them GRAB BAGS, enabling wounded servicemen and women to walk off the plane or arrive in hospital with dignity
We’re also delighted to announce that we have a new partner charity. Shout is the UK’s first free and confidential 24/7 text messaging mental health support service – and from 1 October 2022 you can choose to support them when you donate your preloved items.
Check out this blog to find out more about Shout and discover how an email from Edie, a Donate Clothes customer, spearheaded our partnership with them.
Your feedback: 5 stars on Google and 5.0 on Facebook
From our perspective, one of the most rewarding elements of our journey this year has been the fantastic feedback we’ve received from you guys! Currently, we have a 5-star rating on Google – with a whopping 936 reviews at the time of going to press. And on Facebook it’s 5.0.
We have really loved reading all your comments. So much so that we thought we’d share a few here:
- ‘Top class service. I would definitely recommend using this company. Twice I have used them now and you get to pick a day and leave bags outside and they send u email once collected. 10 out 10’
- ‘Absolutely fantastic service. Free, quick and easy. Really good for when you don’t drive and have too much stuff to carry to your local charity shop. I left the bags outside and they were collected with no fuss. Definitely recommend.’
- ‘So quick and easy! Just pick a day and they come to pick it up, got a time slot the day before so knew when they were coming. I live in an apartment block and they came up to collect 3 large bags! Would definitely recommend and doing it for a good cause 😊’
It’s fantastic that our service has been in demand – and we love that your overall experience has inspired so many of you to leave us glowing reviews. We’ve also enjoyed interacting with you on Facebook – it’s been brilliant to answer questions about everything from where your clothes end up to what you can pack them in. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have a query – or check out our FAQs here.
Our geographical coverage: expanding fast, with more areas to follow this year
We’re not quite collecting nationwide yet, but we’re on our way. We started out collecting in Birmingham, Walsall and Coventry but have now expanded to cover:
- Telford, Stafford, Worcester, Kidderminster and Bridgnorth
- Bristol, Bath and Weston-Super-Mare
- Warwick, Royal Leamington Spa, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Evesham
- Exeter, Taunton, Tiverton, Bridgwater and Burnham-on-Sea
And later this year, we’re planning to expand our service to Stoke-on-Trent, Cheadle, Uttoxeter and the South West of England. Want to find out if we’re collecting in your area yet? Just click on the Book A Collection button and enter your postcode when prompted. If we’re not already, we hope to be with you soon.
Finally, we wanted to say a huge thank you to our brilliant drivers.
As you can probably tell from the reviews, they’re such a huge part of the fantastic service we offer – we hugely appreciate your contribution! And to all of our supporters and partner charities, we’re really excited for the year ahead. Watch this space!
