Farfetch links with Thrift+ for recycling and charity initiative

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 9, 2019

The recycling deals big names are striking with charities and resale firms have been coming thick and fast lately and the latest is from Farfetch, which is interesting as it combines resale and charity in one and helps the consumer too.

It’s partnering with Thrift+ and follows a similar pattern to some of the other recent initiatives from other companies with consumers being incentivised to donate unwanted fashion product to charities.

They’ll receive credits to use on the Farfetch site and in that respect, the new plan echoes the Second Life option the e-tailer introduced earlier this year that allows consumers to return pre-owned designer bags to the site, also for store credits.

The new link-up adds an even deeper ethical/social element to the concept and sees it working with the Thrift+ platform that’s one of the participants in Farfetch’s Dream Assembly technology accelerator programme.

The company sells secondhand clothing online and donates part of the proceeds to registered UK charities.

Under the new deal, consumers will select the charity they want to benefit and will put their unwanted items in a Thrift+ x Farfetch collection bag. The collection service is free or they drop off their items at a local drop-off point. The items will then be photographed and listed for sale on the Thrift+ site with the proceeds being split evenly between the chosen charity, Thrift+ to cover its costs, and the donor, in the form of those Farfetch store credits. But the donor also has the choice of giving their share to the charity.

Farfetch’s sustainable business director Thomas Berry said the project will give consumers “an easy way to clear their wardrobes of unused items” while helping them feel good about it. And it will have “a positive impact by giving good-quality clothes another useful life and supporting multiple charities.”