Meet the women who are giving clothing a second chance
Any child of the 70s will remember the embarrassment of wearing hand-me-downs. It’s probably why many of us still hanker after the thrill of twirling in a brand-new outfit. Let’s face it – fashion is ultimately an expression of our identity. But with the climate crisis and the spiralling cost of living at the front of everyone’s minds, it’s time to embrace second-hand clothing too.
‘WITH THE COST OF LIVING, PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO BE SEEN FLAUNTING THEIR MONEY’
Helen Brooke, 52, a criminal defence solicitor, and Sarah Able, 56, a PR and marketing manager, from West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, run pre-loved clothing agency Re.Dress. Helen says: I still remember my first pre-loved purchase. I was 16 and it was the 80s era of the Nick Kamen Levi’s ad. I was desperate for a pair of 501s, but they were well out of my budget. There was this funky arcade in Leicester, with loads of vintage shops and I bought a pair there, plus a trench coat, and wore both to death.
I met Sarah on a school trip with our sons, and we had lots in common. She liked the khaki jumpsuit I was wearing so much, she went and bought one! We went to a pre-loved clothes sale together and decided to do something similar locally. We held our first Re.Dress event in 2019. We collected donations to sell for charity and gave ticket sales to a women’s refuge. We still make nothing ourselves – all proceeds go to charity.
We had an event booked for the end of March 2020 but the pandemic left us with a rail of clothes with nowhere to go. Not knowing how long we’d be out of action, we came up with the idea of selling them through Instagram. We’re still doing it now, even though I was back at work full time by October 2020.
We’ve raised nearly £25,000 and we’re helping make pre-loved clothing desirable and stopping it from going into landfill.
Sarah says: In lockdown, we were both furloughed. That time gave us a chance to use our brains to be creative. Re.Dress has evolved into a passion.
I often work with influencers because I work in marketing, so when we decided on a live event, we thought a good way to promote it was to cheekily ask them if they’d donate an item we could sell for charity. People could pay for a pitch to sell their own clothes and make some money, then we’d charge for entry and auction the donated items.
There’s a lot of criticism levelled at the fashion industry for waste and inf
