LicensingSource chats to ceo Sheila Brown OBE to find out more about the initiative at next week’s event.
Newlife, the charity for disabled children, is partnering with Brand Licensing Europe to bring the Newlife Charity: Clothing Swap to this year’s Sustainability Activation in partnership with Products of Change.
Newlife works with retailers to sell excess stock (not just in the fashion industry) and raise funds allowing them to donate vital life-saving equipment to disabled children in the UK.
At BLE, attendees are invited to bring a piece of branded apparel to swap onsite in return for donating to industry charity The Light Fund.
We spoke to Sheila Brown OBE, ceo of Newlife, ahead of next week’s show.
Tell us a bit about Newlife, who you are and what you do.
Newlife provides vital equipment to change and improve the lives of children with a disability in the UK, 70% of whom are living without the equipment they need to give them the opportunity to achieve a decent quality of life.
We help thousands of children every year even during the pandemic when almost all of our income ceased. When Covid was at its peak almost every children’s hospital in the country turned to Newlife for emergency support.
Tell us more about what you do to recycle/redirect unused product. The more stats the better, and what impact that has had on the lives of the people supported by the charity.
While our ‘core mission’ is to help children and families, our ‘operating mission’ is all about ‘Planet and People’ and we offer a unique secure recycling service to leading retailers’ manufacturers and brand holders across the UK and Europe actively supporting delivery of their CSR strategy.
Many of these companies have used our services for a quarter of a century and rely on us to manage their excess stock, customer returns, end of lines, fixtures and many other items. We provide a free collection service direct from distribution centres and stores. We protect brands and businesses from being hit by fraudulent refunds as a result of selling product to jobbers, reduce waste and identify audit/stock loss issues.
Our corporate recycling operation raises funds to deliver services to children and families and allows us to employ people who would otherwise be disadvantaged in employment through disability, mental health and other challenges, giving them meaningful work and employment.
Between April 2019 and March 2021 Newlife collected 3,750 tonnes of unwanted stock, which is the equivalent of:
- 17,422 tonnes of carbon saved (enough to fill 106 Wimbledon Centre Courts)
- 538 tonnes of carbon associated with our operation
- 4.1 million items reused
- Net carbon savings equivalent to exhaust emissions from 45.5 million road miles travelled.
How are you involved in the BLE Sustainability Activation in partnership with Products of Change?
We’re taking part in the Newlife Charity: Clothing Swap, where attendees are encouraged to bring a piece of preloved branded apparel to the show to swap with someone else. It’s great for us because Newlife wants to be wherever responsible businesses are talking about protecting our planet and helping our people. We have over 200 active corporate partners, but there are 1 million disabled children in need, so we need more to join us and help change their lives and work together for our planet and people.
How would you like to see brands, retailers and manufacturers approach sustainability in the future?
We know that running a business today is tough. Many of our trustees and executives are experienced in the world of retail, manufacture and supply chain. So, we understand the needs of businesses from the inside out. Of course, every business wants to ‘do the right thing’.
What Newlife does is try to make it much easier to achieve those CSR policies and bring them to life in ways that everyone concerned with the business can understand and feel proud of. So, we want our partners to approach sustainability as a ‘must do’ and work with us to make that happen.
Brand Licensing Europe runs in-person at London’s ExCeL from 17-19 November, followed by an online event on 30 November and 1 December. Check out www.brandlicensing.eu for further details.
