Barnardo's Re-Fashion Hub is here!

In June, we officially opened The Re-Fashion Hub, our first-ever upcycling workshop based in Bradford Superstore! To celebrate, we invited some Barnardo’s colleagues to try out their sewing skills.

(Judith Whitehouse, The Central Operations Team, practicing her sewing skills.)

The Re-Fashion Hub is a space for our creative volunteers to reuse, repair, and upcycle donated textile items that would usually be sent to our recycling merchants. These items may have been deemed unsuitable for resale in their current state due to being too worn, having a small stain, a missing button, or needing a little TLC! The hub enables volunteers to give these donations a new lease of life—whether that be as repaired items or upcycled into completely new products. These items can then be resold in our stores, supporting our sustainability goals by significantly reducing the number of textiles we send for recycling and generating additional income for Barnardo's Children's Services.

(Tracy Edwards, Re-Fashion Volunteer, teaching Shona Jeffries, Retail Volunteering Team, how to sew. Shona made a pair of shorts from some joggers).

The hub has been set up with a zero spend budget and has been kitted out with sewing machines generously donated by Singer, a washing machine donated by Miele, and various sewing tools and materials donated by Korbond.

We have also partnered with Bradford College Fashion School, who will be introducing The Re-Fashion Hub to students as part of their degree coursework from September. Anything the students create can be sold in our stores afterward.

This project, managed by the Retail Sustainability Team, is a pilot, and we hope to introduce additional Re-Fashion Hubs across the UK in the future. There may also be an opportunity to open the hub to the public for community crafting workshops and repair services, which would provide an additional income stream for the charity.

(The Retail Sustainability Team)

If you would like to find out more or if you are interested in volunteering at the Bradford Re-Fashion Hub, please apply via:

Barnardo's Volunteering

Refashion Volunteer

Or email Abigail Birtles, Sustainability Manager, directly at abigail.birtles@barnardos.org.uk