Our pop up date was the Friday which concerned us all as we thought we wouldn’t have much stock left due the success earlier in the week and we also knew the area is always quitter on a Friday due to business’s having early finishes. We decide to go and buy donuts and stand outside the pop up to attract the public in. I think this is what helped us to be successful as a lot of people didn’t realise we were open and us being outside caught their attention. We were asking for donations for the donuts, people were being extremely generous and donating anything up to £20 and not even taking a donut. This helped us raise our grand total of £230 for the day.
Our group all had a clear understanding of why the pop up was taking place and what Traid does as a charity. This is something we explained to customers when they were looking around and when we were talking to people passing by outside. This helped raise awareness of sustainable fashion and encourage people to shop second hand. While running the pop up we had a visit from a team from H&M, they asked about the reasoning of the pop up and about the charity which we all had the knowledge to explain. We hope we educated H&M about sustainability and they will take the knowledge back and think about their effect on the environment as a brand and how they can do their bit to be sustainable.
The pop up wasn’t specifically campaigned to appeal to one audience, as the aim was to gain awareness of the charity to all. Although we did have a strong social media campaign, posting on the FRA Instagram throughout the day which would have applied to a younger audience. Our offline campaign appealed to all, we handed out flyers and put them up in and around college. The flyers clearly explained the location of the pop up, we handed them out in busy locations around Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street.
While studying this unit, I have realised my shopping and buying habits aren’t sustainable and there are things I could do to be a more sustainable consumer, this includes donating my old clothes which I no longer wear instead of just throwing them to the back of my wardrobe. I also realised I am very unaware of the manufacturing process of products I buy, I will now think more before I just buy something, as I am now aware of brands who produce their products ethically.
If we were to hold the pop up again it would be important to start marketing for the store earlier as I think a lot of people were unaware of its presence. To make the stores presence more known it would have been beneficial for a blogger or influencer to post about the store, this would have appealed to a young audience. Although we did contacts some sustainable brands and bloggers to inform them about the event I think we might have of left it too late, if we had done this further in advance they may have got involved in the pop up which would have brought more attention to the event.
After being educated about the impact of fashion retail on the planet, it has inspired me to make more ethical decisions as a consumer as think about the environmental damage. I believe if everyone was more educated about their own effect on the planet they would start to make different decisions, I think a lot of people are unaware of how the smallest change such as shopping in a charity shop instead of buying new can have positive effects on the worl