Claire Stapleton tells Thread about how she started charity fashion website The Collection which gives donations to Amnesty Internation, SPCA, AIDS Foundation and more and helps you turn your old clothes into cash…
Claire Stapleton tells Thread about how she started charity fashion website The Collection which gives donations to Amnesty Internation, SPCA, AIDS Foundation and more and helps you turn your old clothes into cash…
"I created the-collection after I noticed so many of my friends were having the ‘What to do with my old, still good, clothes?’ dilemma.
There was a desire by everyone I knew to give them to charity but everyone had a particular charity they wanted to give to – and most of those charities didn’t do the clothes donation thing. They also didn’t feel a huge urge to put them up on auction sites as they felt the sites were ugly and full of uncaring bargain-hunters. So I thought, why couldn’t we convert our old designer ‘collections’ into donations for our chosen charity’s ‘collection’ box. And do it on an auction site like no one else’s… a good-looking one. And called it www.thecollection.co.nz (with a little secret hypen).
This is why the site has been designed the way it is, I wanted the ‘What’s New’ page to look more like a magazine page and the listing design to be clean and forever stylish. HannahDesign and Michael Crosbie (designers), Zygn (developers) and
Louise Hatton (photographer) worked together to create an amazing look. It was exactly what I wanted – an auction site where you can feel truly good using and you know the people you’re buying off are caring and fashionable.
I kept talking to friends and family as this idea developed and after some discussion found out that despite wanting to give it all to charity some people, especially those who had forked out a lot of money for some pieces, wanted a bit of the sale too. So I made sure the-collection has three levels of giving to charity. You can give 20%, 50% or 100% to charity – so if you want something back for your next purchase – you can.
the-collection started as an idea for my friends but now I realise that it can be for so many of us who want to give back – but do it in our own fashionable way.”
the-collection understands if you lack the time to list, email them at contact@thecollection.co.nz and Claire and her team will try their best to organise a pick up. Don’t let your clothes collect dust – do something good with them at the-collection.co.nz.
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