Win-wins – the best type of business setups! Actually win-win-wins are even better! I’ve managed to orchestrate one of those recently and it’s worked a treat!
You might have noticed recently that I’ve been getting fitter and toning up and in doing so, I’ve dropped a couple of dress sizes which means that I had closets full of clothes that I’d collected over the last 10 years that didn’t fit me any more and which I’m determined not to fit in again. I’m a bit of a hoarder and don’t throw anything away – I’m terrible!
So, my husband was trying to talk me into sending them all to the charity shop but a lot of the clothes I’d collected were gorgeous and quite expensive dresses and I was worried that the local charity shops wouldn’t appreciate the value in them or be able to realise that value.
Then, I stumbled across this fabulous little independent business – Sweet Pea Pre-loved – who basically take in unwanted lovely clothes from people like me who don’t have the time or inclination to list them on Vinted or eBay and liaise with potential buyers and post them out but who want their pieces to go to good homes.
Becky’s business model is that she takes in your unwanted clothes, does an amazing job of marketing and listening them to her community, and then when she sells them she splits the proceeds with you 50/50. In my case, I asked for the money to be donated to Smart Works Newcastle.
You see it’s a win win, I’m supporting her small business, which has grown massively and gone from strength to strength in recent months, I get the old clothes out the closet (which also makes my husband very happy), my charity were thrilled with the surprised cheque they received and I just feel really good about myself for spring cleaning my closet!
And, I feel even better when I get tagged in pictures of people wearing my old clothes knowing they’ve gone to good homes who appreciate them and will go on to love them like I did!
Circular fashion economy is amazing and attitudes are changing towards it which is just fabulous! I remember buying clothes from eBay years ago (when it was kind of frowned upon!) not because I couldn’t afford to buy new, but why not?! There’s nothing wrong with them just because someone else has had some pleasure out of them before you have!
We all need to do our bit to normalising buying pre-loved and also make an effort to re-home things when we’re finished with them – and if you’re like me and too lazy to sell them yourself then go find another solution like I did here! And, the beauty of that is that you could also be supporting another independent business in the process!