ApparelXChange – Building a path and helping others to travel it
As a social enterprise dedicated to the reuse, repair and recycling of clothing for children and young people, ApparelXchange is a having a big impact addressing poverty and the climate crisis. Their next ambition is to guide others to achieve the same impact.
Ever since we launched the Social Innovation Challenge, applicants often ask us what our definition of innovation is. At Firstport, we adopt a wide definition, which acknowledges the fact that innovation varies between contexts, and that it can look hugely different depending on the challenge it is addressing.
But sometimes, the hardest part of innovation is not necessarily about discovering the solution. The hardest part can be ‘selling’ it.
It is more than just building a new path; it is also about helping others to travel it.
To understand this thinking, we can draw on the work of ApparelXchange, a social enterprise dedicated to the reuse, repair and recycling of clothing for children and young people. In spring, they hosted a celebration to share their success over the last few years as they developed a new service, with support from the 2023 Social Innovation Challenge award.
ApparelXChange has developed a blueprint for a Glasgow-wide shared wardrobe system. This model has been built in response to demand, research and a degree of entrepreneurial intuition, where the public sector and social enterprises work in partnership towards the common goal of ending child poverty in Glasgow. The service ApparelXchange have built is ambitious, inclusive and logical – to the degree that everyone who was in the room at their recent celebration felt compelled to learn more, to get involved and to support them.
ApparelXChange’s recent work was not necessarily about testing whether their solution could work – as a grassroots organisation, deeply connected to the social and environmental issues that drive them, that potential was clear. Instead, it was more about investing time, energy and resources into communicating this to new partners, opening new doors and opportunities. To this end, they have developed a comprehensive impact reporting approach – neatly covering the social, economic and environmental benefits they created.
ApparelXchange have always worked with the idea of replication in mind. Sadly, child poverty is not an isolated issue, and similar solutions could deliver impact elsewhere. The team are now focusing on developing a case study to share their learning with other organisations who could achieve similar aims. In this sense, they are going above and beyond to nurture a shift towards positive social and environmental impact.
At Firstport, we are incredibly proud of the impact of ApparelXchange, and are looking forward to seeing how the shared wardrobe project progresses.
Izzie Eriksen, Founding Director, and Bryony Randall, Director at ApparelXChange said:
“We are so grateful for the support we received from Firstport for our shared wardrobe system, which was a fantastic endorsement of our innovation, mindset and ambition. The Social Innovation Challenge Award enabled us to establish and develop relationships with key partners, demonstrating to them the need for our service and embedding preloved children’s clothing provision as part of the social circular economy. Our work is about changing minds and behaviours around clothing reuse, and we are thrilled with the successes we are achieving.”
To learn more about ApparelXChange, please visit their website or follow them on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.