Splash, UAE’s largest fast-fashion retailer, has launched the “Life After Fashion” initiative.
The campaign aims at progressing the brand’s sustainable practices by giving back to the less fortunate.
The initiative involves a close collaboration with neighborhood laundries that collect unwanted clothing items, which are then recycled and distributed by Hands Industries, a modern textile recycler and exporter of second-hand clothing.
The UAE has become one of the world’s largest retail hubs, where fashion trends are current, and constantly evolving.
This rapidly developing fashion sector has, however, made fashion highly disposable for a substantial portion of the population and used clothing items often find their ways to landfills instead of being donated to those who would benefit from them.
Neighborhood laundries have been encouraged to deliver clothes hangers to their customers that are creatively customized with faces of people in need of donated clothes.
The campaign, having run for three months has already resulted in the collection of eight tons of donated clothes, which are being distributed in a variety of ways. Hands Industries categorizes them into provision for used clothing markets, donation to African countries or for recycling purposes. The initiative will now become a year-round event due to its resonance with the public and its great cost efficiencies.
Raza Beig, CEO, Splash, Iconic and Landmark International, said: “Today, markets are overloaded with unwanted, unused clothes and we have set out to turn that scenario into a positive with this initiative. We truly value our partnership with both our laundry partners and Hands Industries who share a common vision with us for responsible sustainability and helping the less fortunate. The general public has been very receptive to our initiative and we are grateful for all of the generous contributions they have made so far.”
