Swap & Shop Sustainably with New-U

Aim

To enable the wider community to contribute to textile waste reduction by ’swapping’ pre-loved clothes and accessories.

Who are you?                                                                                             New-U Enterprises is a UK registered charity which enables the community to live more sustainably and supports unemployed young people move closer to work.

What do you do?   We have a clothes and accessories swap-shop in two localities in Norfolk (Norwich and Cromer) which offer an accessible and alternative shopping experience.  Pre-loved items are brought to us and swapped for “points” which people can then spend on previously donated items in our stores giving customers a ‘New You.’  

Give me some sustainable stats!

It is a shocking reality that consumers buy 60% more clothing now than we did 15 years ago, and only keep these garments for half as long.  In the UK alone, 11 million items of clothing are sent to landfill every week.  Many big brand retailers are covering up the hugely negative impact they have on people and planet.  Poor worker conditions, pitiful wage bills and harmful industry practices which destroy end of line clothes often by incineration and shredding and sending to landfill has to stop.

Last year New-U put 36,000 items of clothing back into circulation as wearable items, saving 10 billion litres of water and reducing carbon emissions by 15 million tonnes.  

Our swap-shops make sustainable living a more achievable and realistic goal.  We extend a garment’s active use for a minimum of 9 months or more and champion the ethos that “the most sustainable garment is the one we already own.” Extending the active life of 50% of UK clothing by 9 months saves: 8% carbon, 10% water, 4% waste per metric ton of clothing, according to WRAP’s Valuing Our Clothes report.   We want to continue to be here for the people of Norfolk and beyond as a positive alternative outlet to buying new clothes and enabling people to shop sustainably. 

What have you achieved?

We are currently in our fourth year of delivery and we have achieved strong growth and surpassed many of our goals in this time.  Since 2018 we have: 

• Hosted 20+ sustainable fashion awareness events for the general public.
• Supported 75 people with our smart clothes loan scheme for job interviews.
• Gifted clothing bundles to 75 people suffering from financial poverty.
• Facilitated over 200 work placements for unemployed young people and delivered 25 employability workshops.
• Opened a second unit in Cromer town centre to support people in North Norfolk who are rurally isolated and cannot travel to Norwich.

How do you work?

New-U is governed by a Board of Trustees representing business, employability, community, third sector and environmental backgrounds who feed into the strategy and business planning for the organisation.  The Board is supported by our Steering Group which includes current and former work placement representatives, customers, and stakeholders.  Our small but mighty staff team, led by our full time Strategic/Founding Director, have unique skills in supporting young people with their employability goals and a deep passion for protecting the environment.

Why should I support you?

Our project educates people to alternative ways of sustainable clothes shopping by offering a unique approach to keeping unwanted quality items out of landfill and in circulation as wearable items.  This enables the general public to revitalise their wardrobe for minimal cost.

Our New-U swap-shops set up off the back of doing multiple pop-up events in the county of Norfolk.  We would like to get back to our roots and deliver more pop-up events in the coming 12  month period and take these to North Norfolk and Gt Yarmouth.  This will enable us to reach new customers who cannot get to our shops.  

With your help, we want to continue to be there for the people of Norfolk and ensure our unique offer benefits many more people and the planet for years to come.  

What do your customers say?

“I find you a really useful resource and my old clothes don’t just get chucked in the bin, I still get value from them and someone else can enjoy them.”

“I love coming to see you! You always have something exciting for me to find.” 

“I can’t say I’ve ever had buyer’s remorse with you, partly because I love everything I get and partly because I know if I didn’t I can just swap it back, easy peasy.”

“I saw the shop on the news so I took my old dresses to donate.  I did not realise that you receive vouchers in return to spend there!  Friendly staff, guilt free shopping , fantastic!”

“This shop makes me feel so much better.  I have health issues and not much money to spend on clothes and coming in here cheers me up.  My husband came in yesterday, swapped some clothes and left with 4 lovely shirts.  My daughter loves it here too.”

Any last words?

New-U is more than just a swap-shop. We are a community of people passionate about saving the environment by slowing the curve of fashion consumerism in our community. Our passion extends to our social environment and improving social mobility. We are changing lives and the environment in our community for a better, more sustainable future. 

Thank you for any contribution you can make, no matter how small.

The New-U Team 

This project successfully funded on 20th September 2022