As 2025 comes to a close, we’re hitting rewind on an incredible year at Traid. This year has again shown the power of charity and second-hand for people and planet. Let’s rewind the year at Traid together. 

Supporting Lives Worldwide 

This year, we proudly committed over half a million pounds to six life-changing projects across four countries, supporting thousands of garment workers, cotton farmers, and their families. 

Working hand in hand with our long-term charity partners, we continued vital initiatives — from preventing child labour in India and Nepal, to supporting cotton farmers in Ethiopia as they transition to organic production. Every project is rooted in building safer, fairer futures for people most impacted by the global fashion industry. 

Retail That Makes a Difference 

Our twelve London charity shops are so much more than places to find second-hand treasures – they’re hubs of impact. In 2025, we continued improving our spaces, with Traid Walthamstow and Traid Lewisham’s refurbishments complete and final touches being completed in our Hammersmith store. Every item we sell reduces waste, with the funds raised in-store directly impacting the fashion industry through supporting garment workers, cotton farmers, their families and communities globally. Feel good fashion at its finest. 

Inspiring Change 

Our Closet Clear-out Challenge returned for a second year! Backed once again by familiar faces including Martin Freeman, Sharon Horgan, and Patrick Grant. Together we smashed our target, generating over 400,000 donations. 

And it didn’t stop there! We brought the Challenge to life in-store with Shop the Drop during fashion month and our biggest fashion campaign yet. Curated collections of standout donations landed in stores, styled by top creative talent and industry stylists, raising vital funds for our global projects. 

Partnerships Powering Change  

We believe purposeful change happens when it’s built together. This year, we were proud to deepen our partnership with lifestyle brand TOAST as their Circle Partner, working together to champion circular fashion through shared values, community engagement and repair-led initiatives that keep clothing in use for longer. 

We also welcomed sportswear brand SOKITO as a new partner, collaborating to extend the life of football boots and promote circularity within the sportswear industry, proving that performance and sustainability can go hand in hand. 

Beyond brand partnerships, our impact is deeply rooted in local communities. Through our collaborations across London boroughs, we help residents give their clothes a second life through home collections and reuse and repair sessions. Together with local authorities, we’re reducing textile waste, supporting reuse at scale and making circular solutions accessible to more people across the city. 

Through our UK partnerships, we’re building a growing ecosystem of organisations and communities working together to create lasting change. 

Championing Reuse 

Education sits at the heart of everything we do. Through partnering with university fashion students, school programmes, in-store workshops, and community events with local boroughs including, Brent, Bexley, Ealing, Harrow, Hackney, Haringey, Hillingdon, Islington, Newham, Redbridge and the Royal Borough Kensington & Chelsea, we’ve helped people understand the true cost and value of their clothes.  

Our free community workshops continued this year at our craft hub in Traid Shepherd’s Bush. We teamed up with leading designers and makers to deliver a diverse programme using second-hand materials sourced from our warehouse. Highlights included the You Can Knit With Us residency hosted by Colèchi, alongside special features from Revival London, Material Grrrlz and more. 

To add to the mix, this year we introduced Traid Talks; our new live panel series exploring the next steps for fashion, kicking it off with an expert discussion chaired by Gemma Metheringham featuring designer Sam Nowell, journalist & BA Fashion journalism lecturer Tamsin Blanchard and sustainable fashion stylist & TV presenter Sabrina Grant.  

By championing reuse, repair, and second-hand style, we’re empowering people to make mindful fashion choices that support a fairer, more sustainable future. 

A Growing Second-hand Movement 

Our work is driven by community. In February, we introduced Traid Together, our collective mission to be leaders in both thought and action, in reshaping the future of charity second-hand fashion in the UK. Our research revealed that 71% of people in the UK already wear something second-hand. Now, we’re going further, working to make second-hand not just an option, but the first choice for everyone.   

Our Centralised Warehouse  

Last year, we opened the doors to our brand-new Alperton warehouse, saying goodbye to our Wembley site after 20 years. Every week, our team carefully hand sorts thousands of donated items, giving them a second life and keeping them out of landfill. Since we began in 1999, we’ve put 240 million garments into use, saving 655,000 tonnes of CO2 and 112 million m³ of water, and this work continues.  

Now, our warehouse operations are taking things to the next level with centralisation. By bringing all sorting, pricing and distribution under one roof, we’ve created a centre where fashion finds its perfect path, from donation to shop floor, curated by our expert team. This streamlined approach ensures clothing reaches its next home faster, more efficiently, ready to be reworn, repurposed and reused. 

Iconic moments   

It wouldn’t be a year at Traid without a few iconic moments. From winning two prestigious Drapers Awards — Best Marketing Campaign for the Closet Clear-out Challenge 2024 and Conscious Store Design for Traid Shepherd’s Bush (which was also long-listed for the sustainable interior category at the Dezeen Awards 2025) — to being featured twice in fashion bible Vogue, it’s safe to say 2025 brought the spotlight. And of course, who could forget our musical debut with Fast Christmas? 

From global impact to purpose-driven retail and record-breaking campaigns, 2025 has been a year fueled by progress, creativity, and community. Together, we’re proving that fashion can be a force for good, supporting people, protecting the planet, and reshaping style for the better. 

A huge thank you to everyone who supported, donated, shopped and stood with us this year. We can’t wait to show you what 2026 has in store!