Redress Opens Permanent Secondhand Clothing Shop In Hong Kong’s Trendy Sham Shui Po ‘Hood

After ten years of organising secondhand pop-ups and setting up a permanent headquarters in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, back in June of last year, environmental charity Redress has converted the space into a permanent curated secondhand clothing and accessories shop called The Redress Closet in an effort to continue its mission of reducing textile waste by offering consumers an opportunity to buy pre-loved clothes thus lessening the impact of their wardrobes on the environment.

With the inaugural of the shop scheduled to happen from May 14 to 16, the shop aims to address Hong Kong’s massive textile waste problem, with data from the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department showing that on average 339 tonnes of textiles were thrown away every day into the city’s landfills in 2019, a whopping increase of 56% from 2011, with 50% of these figures attributed to clothing.

Plus, to make clothes, massive amounts of natural resources like water, land, trees, and oil, are utilized and hence, Redress supports wearing used clothes as that is one of the ways we can lessen the impact of our environmental footprint and save these pre-loved clothes from unnecessarily ending up in landfills by giving them a new home.

A supporter and promoter of the SDG 12 – Sustainable Consumption and Production, The Redress Closet offers a wide variety of clothing at reasonable prices, such as women and menswear, accessories, and bags. The public is invited to bring clothing they no longer use to the shop for sorting and redistribution, and customers can purchase a copy of the piece along with a sustainable fashion guide, Sense, authored by Redress. 

In a press release seen by Green Queen, Redress founder Christina Dean, said that we can’t dismiss that what we are putting into our closet has a direct impact on the planet. “Fashion is one of the world’s most polluting industries. In Hong Kong, our clothes contribute to 15% of our ecological footprint. We have always believed in the positive power of fashion and we want people to love fashion, in a more sustainable way. Complementing our long-standing secondhand charity pop-ups with this permanent shop is one way we are supporting Hong Kongers in making sustainable fashion choices.”   

In Hong Kong alone, our clothes contribute to 15% of our ecological footprint. Complementing our long-standing secondhand charity pop-ups with this permanent shop is one way we are supporting Hong Kongers in making sustainable fashion choices

Christina Dean, founder of Redress

During the shop’s grand opening on May 14, celebrity stylist Cheryl Yam will provide individuals with fashion advice and assist shoppers in styling their pre-loved items and throughout the grand opening weekend, guests are encouraged to participate in a photo contest by posting a picture of themselves in one of their purchased pieces from The Redress Closet’ with the winner to be given a gift certificate of HKD$500(approx. US$64) to shop at the store.

In addition to this, Redress has a Takeback program, and for this has partnered with some of the leading fashion brands, by which it provides 34 used clothing collection points across the city and the donated clothing is sorted and redistributed for use again thus benefitting around 20 charity partners as well as Redress’ own shops.

Executive Director of Redress, Nissa Cornish said, “This is a tremendous moment for Redress. Over the last three years, our Takeback programme has collected and redistributed approximately 57 tonnes of unwanted clothing, directly reducing waste to landfill. With resale currently one of the hottest global topics in fashion sustainability, it is the perfect time for more Hong Kongers to embrace this concept and discover how delightful, affordable, and sustainable secondhand shopping can be.”

Over the last three years, our Takeback programme has collected and redistributed approximately 57 tonnes of unwanted clothing, directly reducing waste to landfill

Nissa Cornish, executive director of Redress

Read: Check Out These 10 Stats, Proof Of How Secondhand Fashion Is Set To Explode As Consumers Factor In Sustainability

In a prior exclusive interview with Green Queen, Dean who is also behind upcycled design brand R collective, shared her thoughts on how individuals can easily adopt a more sustainable approach to fashion. “Fall in love with your clothes and see your closet as an entry point to a beautiful, creative industry that can be a powerful force for good. It’s a mental switch – to see yourself as a fashion citizen. Don’t call yourself a fashion consumer – to say “to consume” in Latin means to destroy through use. Engage yourself, your mind, and see yourself and your closet as a power for good. For some, it will mean ditching shopping altogether. For others, it is to do clothes swap, buy better sustainable products. For some, it is to buy only sustainable lines in fast fashion brands. Wherever you are within the fashion industry, make your bit more sustainable.”

In addition to its sustainability efforts, Redress presented its 2020 Design Award Show to highlight low-waste collections developed by young fashion designers to encourage them and many like them to use their talent and tools to push for a circular economy in the fashion industry.

Read: Here Are 5 Secondhand Fashion Platforms For Your Sustainable Online Shopping Fix

Lead image courtesy of Redress.