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Covid-19: What now for TRAID and our Partners? Only a short time ago, the idea that TRAID’s charity shops would temporarily close with the majority of staff furloughed, would have been utterly unthinkable. But, like so many sectors, from retail to the arts, this is what has happened due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. In mid-June, we were given the go-ahead to re-open TRAID’s charity shops and we have worked hard to adapt to the strange new world of socially distanced retail. Protecting our staff and customers is our priority and some of the safety measures in place include shielded till points, quarantining donations and hand sanitising stations. The pandemic has not stopped us from opening a new charity shop in the heart of London’s Lewisham. It’s been designed and built sustainably to minimise carbon emissions, pollution and energy use wherever possible and has already been warmly embraced by the local community. Since re-opening, the response and support from our customers has been truly heartening. Our love of charity shopping and buying second-hand seems undiminished. This isn’t just good news for the environment, but also for the people making our clothes who benefit from the work TRAID funds. Undoubtedly, Covid-19 is impacting the projects we fund and in this issue, our partner PAN UK explores the challenges for organic cotton in Ethiopia and the incredible resilience of the farmers we support.
In India, our funding continues to help farmers access organic cotton seed with the support of Fairtrade Foundation and Pratibha Syntex. Journalist Stephen Tierney looks at why this opportunity to grow without using hazardous pesticides and fertilisers matters. TRAID’s support has also helped mothers working at AMMA’s sustainable textile workshop in Sri Lanka to continue to be paid during lock down, and the team are now back producing natural zero waste botanical fabrics. For most garment workers, from Leicester to Dhaka, the pandemic has been devastating. It’s an inevitable outcome of decades of poverty pay and insecure work, a business model normalised by the fashion industry which by contrast reaps huge profits. The Worker’s Rights Consortium estimated in April that global brands have cancelled over £20bn of orders leaving many destitute and unable to buy food. Exploitative garment work only allows workers to subsist making it impossible to save income or educate their children. It has never been clearer how urgently systemic change is needed for garment work to lift people out of poverty rather than consign them to it. Keeping clothes in use for longer is the centerpiece of TRAID’s work. It’s what enables us to fund such urgently needed work and we continue to focus on reducing the negative impacts of how we produce, consume and waste clothes, while sup-
By Maria Chenoweth, CEO, TRAID
porting the initiatives and work also advancing this. In this issue, Liz Goodwin, Chair of the London Waste and Recycling Board discusses the importance of establishing a circular economy and the launch of its first Repair Week. While Professor Carolyn Mair provides a fascinating insight into the psychology of fashion and calls for strengthening our sense of self to resist fast fashion and dress sustainably. WRAP’s Director Peter Maddox discusses its recent findings examining UK citizens behaviour when clearing clothes during lockdown. Significantly, it found that most people (two-thirds) prefer to pass on their clothes to charities, backing up our own research. When it comes to donating clothes, trust is key and TRAID’s recent Taking Stock campaign examines what communities really want when they use clothes recycling banks (spoiler alert, charities!) and why charity partnerships with local authorities’ matter. With TRAID’s charity shops re-opened, we are once again stopping clothes waste while sustainably raising funds to improve the lives, incomes and environment of the people who make our clothes. We anticipate that support like this will be needed more than ever in the wake of this pandemic. Thank you everyone for shopping in our charity shops and passing on clothes to TRAID for someone else to use. #secondhandfirst
