We’re proud to announce that our partnership with Oxfam, the M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange, has raised an extra £1million for the charity since its launch in January.
The extra money raised 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 raised through the sale of extra M&S clothes donated to Oxfam shops as part of the Clothes Exchange, which encourages customers to give M&S clothes they no longer wear to Oxfam. In return they get a £5 M&S voucher which can be redeemed in store on purchases of £35 or more on clothing, home or beauty products.
The great news is that our partnership with Oxfam – which initially ran for a six month trial – will now continue indefinitely, so customers across the UK will be able to keep picking up an M&S voucher every time they visit their local Oxfam shop with their unwanted M&S clothing.
The Clothes Exchange has also helped us toward one of our Plan A targets - to encourage our customers to recycle their old clothes, and help to reduce the one million tonnes of clothing sent to landfill in the UK each year.