Prague’s Clothing Bank Touches Lives of the Needy, Stops Garments from Going Waste

Tell us about your collection, sorting and distribution processes.
The basic rule is that the clothes people donate to us must be clean and undamaged. We like to say that we only donate clothes that we would wear ourselves. We receive clothes from individual donors who can bring them either to the Clothing Bank or to our fashion charity shop, or send them free of charge via Zásilkovna.

Another source is employee fundraisers organised by companies that support us. We also receive clothing from other non-profit organisations that can organise clothing collections but no longer have the capacity to sort and distribute it. For example, we also work with Potex, which operates orange containers for textile collection.

Every single piece of clothing that enters the Clothing Bank undergoes an inspection. We don't want to donate clothes to people in need that are ruined or dirty. If the clothing is in good condition, it can be prepared according to size for the material aid package. Each package contains a complete set of clothes that will clothe a person from head to toe.

There are a whole lot of brands as partners on your website, like Lidl and Amazon. What is the tie-up like with them and the others?
In most cases, the partners listed on our website have been supporting us for a long time. They have supported us financially or materially through the Single Mothers Club and when we introduced the Clothing Bank project to them, they decided to be part of it. We appreciate this long-term support very much. The Clothing Bank is unparalleled in the Czech Republic.

Organisations providing material aid in the form of clothing always operate only locally, not nationwide. After the opening of the Clothing Bank, we have established new partnerships with companies that also see great sense in this aid and want to be part of it. We are really happy about that.

It is great to see that clothes that remain unworn find a life again. However, this does not close the loop when we talk of circularity. Do you have any programme whereby all the used clothing that cannot be worn again is brought back to your centre for recycling or upcycling?
All clothing that is not suitable for donation because it does not meet our strict quality criteria is taken away by Potex, a charitable project that redistributes and processes used and still-usable textiles, each week. They then sort the clothes we discard into those that are donated to other organisations they work with and those that are destined for environmental disposal. You won't find clothes from the Clothes Bank in your regular municipal waste.

How many pieces of clothing have been gathered and distributed so far? How big is your warehouse? How does the entire supply chain work?
In its first few weeks of operation, the Clothing Bank has already donated 10 tonnes of clothes to the needy from all over the Czech Republic. To give you a better idea, that's 2,500 packages with a complete set of clothes for the same number of people. Our warehouse is not as big as many people think. Everything is done very quickly—we pride ourselves on quick help. Clothes that are donated to us are immediately sorted and prepared into packages. It is no exception that the clothes that a donor brings us in the morning leave after lunch, loaded on the back of a van to the needy.

What is your revenue model?
The main partner is the company JT International, which financially secures a significant part of the operation of the entire Clothing Bank. Anyone can contribute financially to the activities of the Clothing Bank by sending a financial donation to our bank account.