Dresses wanted for Charity Shop

bickypops

Hello Everyone
This is all very new to me and a bit scary!!
I work as a Charity Shop Manager but have been off work for 18 months due to an accident. i am however due to go back to work in about 8 weeks. My company are going to open another shop locally and i may with a bit of luck be able to manage it for them, Fingers Crossed!
I would love to be able to offer good quality ladies clothes and make it a shop with a difference. I have bought the dummies for the window display myself and one of the High Streets Major Stores are donating the window back drops to me along with any help i might need to make the displays fabulous.
What i want to know is, are there any shops/companies that donate clothing that is damaged ie broken zips and/or things that need sewing back to-gether. I dont mind sewing things and putting them back as they were.
I would so much appreciate a bit of help and guidence on this one

Savvy_Sue

Welcome bicky, and sorry you haven't had any responses yet.

I don't know if your chain of charity shops is a member of the Charity Retail Association, but they say they have a discussion forum, so it might be worth scouting around there to see if others are doing this.

It's possible that the time required to do repairs means this doesn't make economic sense, unless you've got a team of skilled volunteers to do the work, rather than doing it yourself.

I'd also say that location is key here: I'm a keen charity shopper, and I do notice the range of prices both from one chain to another, and from one part of my city to another. If this new branch is in an upmarket area, you might do OK with this idea. If it's not, I think you might struggle.

bickypops

Hi Sue
So sorry this has taken me so long to reply its just that i am such a novice with a computer! I seem to spend so much time staring at the screen and not quite seeing what i am supposed to do. Thank you so much for your reply. At one of the charity shops i worked in i was given a load of M&S, New Look and Wallis clothing, all damaged! What i did was put a poster in the window asking for ladies to sew and i ended up with 6 of them, we all had great fun redoing the items which i have to say we sold the lot.

tiff

Sorry I cant help with your original question but I was glad to see this post. I think managers need to be more proactive in getting stock, so your solution was a great idea. Also you've bought the dummies yourself etc. Let us know how it goes.