Industry talks / factory visit
Since 1999 TRAID launches as a UK registered charity with four charity shops and 700 textile recycling banks with the aim of raising funds to fight global poverty by collecting unwanted clothes to reuse and resell. We fund four international development projects in our first year. TRAID believes that everything has a buyer and anything of good quality can be sold on. TRAID has a hashtag which is #SECONDHANDFIRST, this intently tells us that one they are a charity and two anyone’s seconds clothing can be someone’s first.
One activity I took part in was a tour of the factory. We got to see the process the clothes and accessories go on throughout the warehouse. First they are emptied out before the conveyor belt and got rid of any damp clothing, underwear and anything that is noticeably dirty or in no condition to be sold on. It then went around the conveyor belt and staff would pull out any clothing for their stores or put garments into their categories. Anything that is not sellable is put into a pile ready to be bagged up and sent off to be recycled and made into something new. Another activity I took part in is that me and my class had to sort through the garments TRAID set aside especially for our pop up shop. We had to sort them into their categories, label them with rough prices and then later on we showed the other half of our class the clothes we chose and why. We then bagged them up ready to be sent off to the FRA. In groups we also created a styling photoshoot. For this we chose garments (our group chose a ralph Lauren cream knit jumper, a Versace belt and a brown faux fur gillet. from our pop up shop stock then took photos using TRAID warehouse as our background. We would then use the photos to put into a TRAID promotional advert. I enjoyed visiting TRAID warehouse factory because I have never been to a factory and it was a great way for me to physically and visually learn what happens in factories and how all the clothes gets sourced to all TRAID’s stores in the UK. It also helped support my research for this project and helped me to think of ideas for my website.
The different product categories for TRAID merchandise are men, women, children, accessories, premium, basics and high street. Clothing from Primark will most likely go into basics. Clothing from Topshop/Zara or other high street retailers will be in the category high street. When we sorted through our clothing at TRAID warehouse there were high end accessories and clothing such as Ralph Lauren belts, Burberry skirt, Tommy Hilfiger shorts and Guess jeans. By putting each garment into a category, it helped the buyers and visual merchandisers divide the store up and make it easy to navigate yourself around the pop up shop. It also helps the shopper navigate the shop.
The standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something is the definition to ‘quality’. Whilst at the warehouse we was told TRAID does not tell anything on that has rips, tares, stains, discoloured, old and tatty. Any clothing or accessories that doesn’t reach TRAID’s expectations going in a recycling bin so nothing goes to waste. This is one way TRAID is sustainable.
I was in the logistics group, for this we had to create a timetable for each group. The time table included lunch breaks, short breaks, activities during the day and activities to help set up before the store opens and activates to do when the shop closes. We also included what each group has to complete in order for the day to run smoothly. I printed each agenda out and briefed each group beforehand to make sure the day will run smoothly. Other strategy we had to develop was that my group had to think of other ways to make money. I thought of the idea to have a cake sale- offer some snacks as customers come and go. This was a huge success as we made around £30.