Oxfam’s partnership with Marks & Spencer, the M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange, has raised an extra £1million for the charity since its launch in January.

The extra revenue generated through the Clothes Exchange is enough to:

• pay for Oxfam’s entire Rwanda programme for a year, which includes improving agricultural livelihoods, working to tackle the spread of HIV and working to improve governance in a way that helps national reconciliation or,
• help provide safe clean water, healthcare and other lifesaving services for around 200,000 people displaced by conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo for six months or,
• fund Oxfam’s mobile schools for children of nomadic farmers in Kenya for four years.

The £1m has been generated by the sale of extra Marks & Spencer clothes donated to Oxfam shops through the Clothes Exchange, which encourages donations of unwanted M&S clothes to Oxfam by providing a £5 M&S voucher in return. The voucher is redeemable against a £35 spend on clothing, home or beauty products at M&S.

The positive impact of the partnership – which initially ran for a six month trial – means that the Clothes Exchange will now continue indefinitely, so people across the UK will be able to keep picking-up an M&S voucher each time they visit their local Oxfam shop with a donation of M&S clothing.

The Clothes Exchange has also supported one of Marks & Spencer’s Plan A environmental objectives to encourage the recycling of clothes, and reduce the one million tonnes of clothing sent to landfill in the UK each year. 

Barney Tallack, Oxfam’s Deputy Director of Trading said: “An extra million pounds is amazing. The partnership has been a fantastic success, and we would like to thank the people who have donated all the great clothes that helped us raise this money. Please keep bringing them in as the extra money raised will help Oxfam to make a real difference to the lives of many thousands of the world’s poorest people.”

Richard Gillies, Director of Plan A, Marks & Spencer said: “The success of the Clothes Exchange shows that it is possible to be responsible and save money at the same time. Thousands of people have saved on their M&S shopping* by donating M&S clothing they no longer need to Oxfam, which has helped the charity to raise more money to fight poverty. It’s also helped to reduce the amount of clothing sent to landfill by 1,000 tonnes over the last six months. We hope the campaign will continue to go from strength to strength in future.” 

ENDS

For further information, go to www.marksandspencer.com/plana or www.oxfam.org.uk

For further information for media, please call:

Marks & Spencer
Olivia Ross  0208 718 1618 / 07795 968 641

Oxfam
Rob McNeil  01865 472334 / 07909 860 370

Key:
* £5 voucher redeemable on clothing, home and beauty purchases at Marks & Spencer.

Notes to editors:

M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange

• The M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange will raise more money for Oxfam to help people escape poverty around the world. This includes dealing with issues in more than 70 countries, ranging from campaigning against unfair trade rules that keep developing countries in poverty, to providing tools, seeds and skills to poor farmers. It also means helping vulnerable communities when disasters happen; supporting women’s rights in developing countries and working to tackle climate change and HIV and AIDS.
• Vouchers not issued for M&S intimate apparel (such as lingerie, underwear and swimwear), hosiery and socks that are donated to Oxfam.
• One voucher provided in return for donations containing at least one piece of M&S labelled clothing, or a handbag, pair of shoes, belt, hat, pair of gloves or scarf. One voucher is given per visit.
• In the Republic of Ireland, M&S vouchers will be for €7 off €50 on M&S general merchandise.
• One M&S voucher can be used for each transaction in M&S for general merchandise products - clothing, home or beauty (not food).
• One million tonnes of clothing sent to landfill each year, source DEFRA 2006.

Oxfam and textiles

• Oxfam is the only major charity to operate its own textile sorting facility, Wastesaver, which maximises revenue from textiles that cannot be re-sold in its shops and minimises the amount of textiles sent to landfill. The facility sorts clothing and resells it through a number of different routes, including:
  - redistribution to Oxfam shops
  - selling on the Oxfam online shop and at festivals
  - to designers who restyle garments and reuse fabrics in their collections
  - to textile wholesalers in the UK and overseas
  - the low grade items not sold as clothing are sold in bulk to recycling traders where it is used, for example, as mattress filler, carpet underlay, upholstery and car sound insulation. 
• M&S and Oxfam will also explore the possibility of taking materials that can’t be sold or recycled through traditional methods, such as embellished denim, and recycling it into cardboard boxes, for example, or back into denim clothing.
  

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