Words by Smiley Team
In the midst of the second lockdown in England – back in November 2020 – two mums in Bolton decided they wanted to do something to give back.
Rachel Craven, 34, and Leander Moore, 35, set up Saving Threads, a charitable organisation selling pre-loved clothes – reducing waste, limiting landfill, encouraging people to buy secondhand, and also donating profits to charity.
At the time, charity shops were closed and people didn’t have anywhere to donate their clothes. It also gave shoppers who liked buying secondhand another opportunity to do so. “Leander is a teacher and I work in the NHS, so we were quite secure in our jobs,” Rachel tells Smiley News. “So we thought, let’s sell these clothes and donate to charity.”
The pair settled on selling clothes on eBay and started by using clothes from their own wardrobes that they no longer wanted or needed. “I had way too many clothes,” says Rachel, “and my friend had lots in the loft. We asked family members, too.”
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A lot of local charities don’t receive any government funding, so Rachel says they chose to raise money for these smaller ones. Initially, they raised funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities UK, as they had a friend who had a baby in NICU.
After Christmas, awareness of Saving Threads started to accelerate and people were interested in donating clothes, so Rachel and Leander started picking up bags of clothes from people’s houses. They’d sort through the clothes, take pictures of them, then list them all on their eBay page. They ended up with so many clothes, they were awarded a Dragon’s Dan grant to pay for a storage unit.
“We’ve been given some amazing stuff,” says Rachel. “A woman gave me 30-40 Karen Millen dresses! Some would just give us bag fulls of designer clothes – and they sell really well.
“People like to donate their clothes to us, knowing exactly what the impact of that will be and the charity that will receive funds.”
They pick local charities to support in Bolton and Bury – with causes ranging from domestic violence, mental health, hospice care, new mums, and homelessness charities. Sometimes they’ll do a shoutout on Facebook to garner ideas on what charity they should support. “Now, we tend to have at least four or five core charities we raise money for,” says Rachel. “We know how much impact the smaller amount of money raised has on them, rather than a national charity.”
Saving Threads does more than just donate money to charity, though. They also support service users in the community – donating clothes to people fleeing domestic violence, for example, those on the community mental health team, or children at school who are in need.
More recently, Rachel and Leander came up with a new way to use the funds raised. They spent £180 on essentials to donate to a local food bank, and then £260 for presents for children who wouldn’t normally get them. “We decided rather than just giving all to charity, we would do community projects too,” she says.
So far, the two women have raised nearly £10,000 – in just one year. And they have big plans for the future, hoping to link in with schools and support them, so no clothes ever go to waste.
The best thing about Saving Threads? “We really enjoy doing it,” says Rachel. “We’re just really happy to do it. We’re so lucky to have what we have, and we really do see people who have nothing. So doing what we are to try and help other people, it doesn’t feel stressful, it feels necessary.”
Find out more about Saving Threads on their Facebook or Instagram page. You can head to their eBay site to buy clothes that will help them raise more money for local charities. You can also get in contact with them by emailing [email protected].
