John Lewis & Partners pilots a buyback scheme with 20,000 customers to help combat clothing waste
FRIDAY 4 OCTOBER 2019
Today, John Lewis & Partners is introducing an innovative and sustainable pilot at its Oxford shop, inviting their loyal, local customers to return preloved clothes in exchange for payment per item.
Through this ‘BuyBack’ trial, the Oxford shop will accept all preloved items from any womenswear and menswear brands stocked at John Lewis & Partners from the 20,000 local ‘my John Lewis’ members invited to take part. In return, these customers will receive £3 per item, up to a maximum of three pieces of clothing, which can then be spent with John Lewis & Partners or Waitrose & Partners in shops or online.
The initiative has been created to make it easy for customers to responsibly dispose of any unwanted clothes bought at John Lewis & Partners, helping to address the increasing volumes of clothing being sent to landfill.
Stephen Cawley, John Lewis Partner and Head of Sustainability said: “As a leading fashion retailer we know we have a responsibility to help reduce the amount of clothing waste generated and the number of resources used to create clothing.
“Our approach has always been to make high quality garments which last, but inevitably there comes a time when they are no longer worn.
“Our customers are becoming increasingly aware of their actions on the environment, so we want to make it easy for them to ensure the products they buy from us have a long life after they no longer have use for them.”
Julie Blake, Head of Branch at John Lewis & Partners, Oxford added; “We know from the success of the ‘Waitrose Unpacked’ trial in Oxford that there is a lot of local support for sustainability initiatives. We’re looking forward to running this trial and rewarding loyal customers for ensuring pre-loved clothes can be enjoyed and appreciated once more.”
With an estimated 300,000 tonnes of clothing sent to landfill in the UK each year, through this trial John Lewis & Partners guarantees that all clothes brought in will be mended or reworked into a new item, resold, or recycled into new products.
This trial at John Lewis & Partners Oxford starts on 4th October 2019 and runs for six weeks.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About John Lewis & Partners
John Lewis & Partners operates 50 John Lewis shops across the UK (37 department stores, 12 John Lewis at home and shops at St Pancras International and Heathrow Terminal 2) as well as johnlewis.com. The retailer stocks around 350,000 separate lines in its department stores and on johnlewis.com across fashion, home and technology. This year John Lewis & Partners won, 'Best Multichannel Retailer 2018', 'Best Clothing Retailer 2018', and 'Best Furniture Retailer 2018' at the GlobalData Customer Satisfaction Awards 2018. John Lewis Finance offers a range of comprehensive financial services products - including Insurance, Foreign Currency, International Payments and the Partnership Card - delivering the values of expertise, trust and customer service expected from the John Lewis brand. johnlewisfinance.com
*GlobalData Retail Customer Satisfaction Awards 2018