Cape Town-based Woolworths is offering customers discounts on jean purchases if they donate old denim garments towards an ‘upcycling’ programme.
Woolworths has installed denim donation bins at 20 of its South African stores, and will hand the clothing items to the Taking Care of Business’ (TCB) remake programme, where they will be transformed into newly designed products, rather than discarded.
Customers who participate — and who are on the retailer’s rewards programme — will get a 20%-off voucher towards purchases of its house brand denim, Woolworths said in a statement.
TCB supports seamstresses with micro-manufacturing businesses. It offers them business and technical skills training as well as mentorship and access to stock.
“Our seamstresses use donations of clothing, fabric, haberdashery, and cut samples from supply chain partners like Woolworths to create various garments, from handbags to dresses and skirts to toys and cushions that they then sell to support their families,” says Heidi Smith, head of TCB’s remake programme.
The organisation works with 72 seamstresses and will recruit another 100 in 2025, Smith says. In most cases, they’re from low-income communities and struggle to access sewing machines or affordable fabric.
Elsewhere, the French government is doubling down on efforts to slash textile waste and make the clothing industry more sustainable.
In mid-March, parliament’s National Assembly approved new legislation that will penalise “fast-fashion” products — essentially mass-produced, cheap clothing that’s not made to last. If implemented, fast-fashion brands will have to pay a fee of as much as €10 on their products. The revenue raised will be used to subsidise more sustainable clothing options — particularly from local brands.
Tags: Upcycling, Woolworths
