TRAID X FRA Sustainable Pop-up Shop Reopens

Following the success of the first pop-up shop, our students have collaborated with TRAID for the second time!

Our 150 Level 3 Fashion Retail students are creating a sustainable fashion pop-up shop selling secondhand and vintage clothing, shoes and accessories. They were set a project brief by TRAID to create, market, stock and merchandise the FRA X TRAID pop-up shop. Every sale made will be donated directly to the charity, who aim to stop fashion waste and support projects that stop abuse in the fashion industry supply chains.

Jason Forrest, one of our Business Retail Lecturers said, “As part of our Level 3 course, we educate our students on the importance of sustainability within fashion, and of making a positive contribution to the future of the industry and our planet. This is the second year we have partnered with TRAID to raise awareness of this key issue to both our wider student body and our local community.”

To understand why positive change in the fashion retail industry is urgently needed, the students worked with TRAID to investigate supply chains. They explored the issues surrounding every stage of clothing production, from the cotton fields to garment factories. They also examined the impact on both the environment and the people who work in the industry.

At the other end of the supply chain, the students also researched the growing problem of mass consumption and disposal. They discovered how this trend is driven by a fast-fashion model that normalises huge volumes of fashion waste and wardrobes full of unworn items.

To understand the scale of fashion waste, Level 3 Fashion Retail visited TRAID’s warehouse in London. This is where the charity stores thousands of tonnes of clothes and shoes, which are sorted for reuse and resale in their shops. Huge volumes of clothes are put back into circulation which would otherwise have been thrown into landfills or incinerated. Extending the life of the clothes we already have is one of the most environmentally beneficial things we can do to reduce our fashion footprint.

Sarah Klymkiw, Education Officer at TRAID said, “These young people are the future of fashion retail. They’ll be making decisions as buyers, garment technologists, designers and managers which could shape the fashion industry for the better. By running a pop-up shop in Central London stocked with curated second-hand pieces, they’ll get first-hand experience on how to address sustainability issues by embedding them into business practice.”