CSN Stories
Inspiring case studies of community action on climate change, from all over the county!
Cumbria Clothing Collective
Who:
Gail Gravett, Founder
Where:
Penrith, Cumbria
What:
A project to save clothing from landfill and promote sustainable clothing practices.
Key Features and Events
Clothes swaps, repairing, education and awareness raising.
The backstory
The Community Climate Grants scheme has contributed £6,500 towards the development of the Cumbria Clothing Collective, in particular its reach and influence through branding, social media and its website .
Back in 2023, Gail was inspired to take action on clothes waste by a video of Simon Reeve in Chile exploring a mountain of surplus clothes in the Atacama Desert. Some of the items were brand new, but unsold and dumped ‘out of sight, out of mind.’
At that time Gail was a member of the Soroptimists, which has the objective of supporting women and girls around the world, and she saw the opportunity to campaign on the issue of clothes waste with them. When the Penrith Soroptimists sadly folded, Gail decided to set up a new campaigning group.
Messaging for the campaign has been informed by Climate Outreach research. Gail made the decision not to mention carbon, but to focus instead on waste, ‘pollution’ and its capacity to horrify. Her website has been underpinned by lots of research to ensure that it is credible. When going out to public meetings and working with schools and colleges it has been essential to have the all the facts, detailed information and authority.
A key focus for the Collective has been work with schools and young people about fast fashion, with the aim of prompting behaviour change. For example, Erin, teenage climate champion, ran a really motivating workshop at the 2025 Youth Climate Summit in Barrow, and a teacher from the Lakes School delivered a project on redesigning second hand clothes.
The Collective also offers wardrobe analysis as a practical tool for people who say that they have ‘nothing to wear’ but have lots of unworn clothes in their cupboards. They have been collaborating with groups from across the county to promote clothes swaps, and a recent county-wide Great Big Green Week event enabled the group to recruit five new volunteers to help sustain this initiative. They are also working with councils on how we can physically address the clothing waste issue in Cumbria.
Essential to the success of the Collective has been the marketing work supported through the Community Climate Grants – social media, website, posters and presentations. The focus has been on consistency of messaging for radio interviews, newspaper articles and an e-newsletter. The website has proved to be an essential tool for interested contacts to refer to and explore the clothing waste issue in more depth.
Plans for the future
Looking ahead, the group has ambitions to:
- Publish a Repair Directory for Cumbria.
- Conduct a feasibility study on the processing of clothes waste from charity shops, where single component clothing such as cotton or wool could be recycled.
- Address the issue of corporate clothing waste, where uniforms with logos are routinely binned.
