Celebrities back M&S Oxfam pop up

Marks & Spencer is opening its first pop-up in partnership with Oxfam as part of its Shwopping clothes recycling initiative.

Oxfam

The pop-up, created by Unity at M&S’s Marble Arch store in London, will sell items donated by celebrities including Alexa Chung, Caroline Flack, Daisy Lowe, Plan B and Pixie Lott, as well as rare vintage M&S fashions.

Celebrities including Joanna Lumley, who fronts advertising for the Shwopping scheme, will staff the pop-up.

Customers need to donate items to the charity scheme to gain access to the two-day Shwop Shop.

M&S has also commissioned a series of art installations from the London College of Fashion’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion that will feature throughout the Marble Arch store to highlight the Shwopping initiative.

M&S says more than 2.8 million items of clothing – equivalent to £1.8m – have been donated to Oxfam through its Shwopping initiative that encourages shoppers to bring unwanted clothing into stores when they buy new products in a bid to prevent items going to landfill. All items are then resold, reused or recycled by Oxfam.

The retailer launched Shwopping last year as part of its Plan A sustainable business strategy in a bid to change consumer mindset by creating a “buy and give back” culture that encourages people to see a value in unwanted products.

It has since rolled it out with a workplace Shwopping scheme to make it easier for people to donate.

It was followed by H&M, which launched a similar clothes recycling scheme in December that rewards customers with vouchers for donations.

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