Marks & Spencer and Oxfam Exchange Clothes

April 8, 2008 · Written by Joel

For 6 months (that started at the end of Jan) Marks & Spencer (M&S) have joined forces with Oxfam to set up a clothing exchange. Designed with the dual purpose of encouraging people to recycle clothes and raise money for Oxfam’s work, customers who donate M&S clothes to Oxfam will receive a voucher £5/€7, valid for one month, to use with their next purchase of £35/€50 or more. Although buying new clothes paid for with old clothes isn’t the best way of doing things in my opinion, it’s certainly not a bad way of encouraging people to recycle clothes if they are planning on buying more anyway. And perhaps they’ll find something they like in Oxfam!

This is part of M&S’s Plan A - a five year, 100 point “eco-plan”, another point being charging for plastic bags. It’s nice to see a retailer with firm actions in place and a willingness to do them. Their five pillars, to achieve by 2012 are:

M&S Plan A
  • Become carbon neutral
  • Send no waste to landfill
  • Extend sustainable sourcing
  • Help improve the lives of people in our supply chain
  • Help customers and employees live a healthier life-style

What do you think?

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One Response to “Marks & Spencer and Oxfam Exchange Clothes”

  1. Life Goggles: Marks & Spencer and Oxfam Exchange Clothes : Sustainablog on April 14th, 2008 8:59 pm

    [...] to dealing with products at the end of their useful lives: clothing recycling. This post was originally published on Tuesday, April 8, [...]

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