Yahoo News Shoppers offered cash for old unwanted John Lewis clothes even if they are damaged
Shoppers are being offered cash for old clothes in a trial that will see John Lewis buy back unwanted items even if they are damaged.
The scheme aims to reduce the impact of the 300,000 tonnes of clothes sent to UK landfill each year.
More than 100 customers are testing the scheme that allows them to sell any unwanted clothing back to the department store, regardless of its condition, in return for an e-voucher that they can then use in store.
The app-based service links to a customer's John Lewis account data on what they have bought from its 50 stores or website over the past five years.
Customers can then select the products they want to sell and are immediately shown the amount they can receive for them. Once a customer has a minimum of £50 worth of clothing to sell, a courier will collect the products within three hours.
The average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes, but around 30 per cent of that clothing has not been worn for at least a year
Martyn White, John Lewis
Martyn White, sustainability manager at John Lewis, said: "We already take back used sofas, beds and large electrical items and either donate them to charity or reuse and recycle parts, and want to offer a service for fashion products.
"It's estimated that the average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes, but around 30 per cent of that clothing has not been worn for at least a year."
Items bought back are then either resold, mended so they can be resold or recycled into new products.
If successful, the next stage will be to offer an option for customers to donate the money to charity.
John Lewis developed the idea with social enterprise Stuffstr, which partners with retailers to buy back used items and recycle them.
Stuffstr chief executive John Atcheson said: "Every item has value, even old socks, and we want to make it as simple as possible for John Lewis customers to benefit from their unwanted clothes."
