15th November 2024
Today ReLondon is excited to announce the 10 fashion and textiles businesses that have received funding from its ReWear grant programme to upscale their operations and impact to support London’s transition to towards a just, low-carbon and zero waste fashion sector.
Each of the selected businesses is a London-based circular start-up or early-stage business that is pioneering a repair, resale and/or rental solution for textiles that helps reduce the need for making new clothes.
Businesses have received up to £15,000 to help them grow and expand their operations and amplify their impact, while playing a key role in promoting circularity within London’s fashion ecosystem.
The 10 businesses are:
Repair businesses
1. The Seam – A platform connecting customers with local makers for clothing repairs and alterations.
Impact potential: The Seam’s scalable model could make repairs a mainstream choice, making it more affordable and convenient, while empowering local makers.
2. Vamp Sneaker Cleaning – Specialists in sneaker cleaning and restoration to extend footwear lifespan.
Impact potential: Vamp Sneaker Cleaning taps into sneaker culture to make shoe care and restoration more accessible among a broad, younger audience.
3. SOJO – A fashion-tech platform providing door-to-door repair services with a “plug and play” repair solution for brands, as well as an in-store repair offering.
Impact potential: SOJO is embedding sustainable repair services within brands’ offerings. Their approach, which includes specialised knitwear repair training, uniquely combines environmental impact with skill-building.
Resale businesses
4. Verte – Hosts of pop-up clothes swaps across London and the UK. Verte partners with brands and commercial landlords to create curated, premium pre-loved shopping experiences.
Impact potential: Verte challenges traditional clothes swap models by bringing together brands and commercial landlords to promote greater reuse and circularity.
5. Give Your Best – A dual-model business addressing clothing poverty and promoting sustainable fashion via a pay-it-forward in-person store.
Impact potential: Give Your Best combines social impact with sustainability, offering a repair initiative alongside selling preloved clothes to extend the life of garments in new, diverse ways.
6. Tern Eco – A B2B SaaS platform for circular programmes, integrating resale and repair options for retailers.
Impact potential: Tern Eco are building the digital infrastructure to help retailers – including small businesses – to adopt circular models in a viable way.
7. Known Source – A second-hand platform with verified sellers specialising in high-quality pre-loved fashion. Known Source resell any items purchased with them, making sustainable shopping more convenient.
Impact potential: Known Source is personalising the shopping experience for their customers, making sustainable fashion more fun and accessible for time-poor people and making resale more mainstream. This is further supported through their in-store location at Westfield Stratford.
8. Continue Technology – A peer-to-peer resale platform for retailers, making second-hand options accessible and profitable for businesses of all sizes.
Impact potential: Continue Technology is making it possible for small businesses to engage in circular models, promoting second-hand shopping and driving sustainability.
Rental businesses
9. Kiraa – A rental platform providing access to luxury and culturally-rooted fashion brands, particularly those from Africa, fostering a community around sustainable fashion.
Impact potential: Kiraa has the potential to diversify the rental market by appealing to a specific demographic and offering a broader size range, making sustainable fashion more inclusive and accessible.
10. Bundlee – The UK’s first baby and toddler clothing rental subscription service.
Impact potential: Bundlee’s expansion to include clothing for children aged 3-4 years will widen audience reach by bringing its rental subscription service to more families, while driving the business’s growth.
Driving London’s transition to towards a just, low-carbon, zero waste fashion sector
ReLondon’s ReWear grant programme forms part of the London Textiles Action Plan, a programme of activity which aims to unite London’s local authorities, businesses, residents and visitors to collectively drive the transition towards a just, low-carbon, zero waste fashion sector across the city.
The London Textiles Action Plan is endorsed by the Mayor of London, London Councils, the UK Fashion and Textile Association, the British Retail Consortium, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, among others.
Rachel Singer, textiles lead, ReLondonLondon has set the ambition to become a global hub for circular fashion and textiles by 2030. To achieve this vision, it is crucial that shopping second-hand, repair, swapping, sharing and rental are common practices for all Londoners – particularly as we know that extending the life of existing clothing can reduce London’s fashion-related carbon emissions by over 30%. It is, therefore, so exciting to meet this new cohort of small businesses who are at the forefront of the circular fashion movement, as it is ideas like the ones that they will be trialling as part of the ReWear grant programme that will help turn the city’s vision into reality.
The competition for a ReWear grant was fierce: The 10 grantees were the strongest out of nearly 100 applications. As part of the selection process, a panel of sector experts from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Hubbub, and the British Retail Consortium provided valuable feedback on the selected cohort.
Sophie Moggs, policy analyst, Ellen MacArthur FoundationI’m thrilled to celebrate this year’s ReWear grant winners—a dynamic cohort showcasing a variety of circular business models that highlight the breadth of innovation already thriving in London. With this funding, I’m particularly excited to see how each service and business can scale, creating a powerful shift toward circular fashion by keeping products in use for as long as possible. Their growth has the potential to significantly reduce reliance on traditional clothing sales, transforming how London embraces circular business models such as resale, rental, and repair as the new norm in fashion.
Stephanie Campbell, senior creative partner – fashion, HubbubWe always encourage ways businesses can help people make responsible choices with their clothing. ReLondon’s ReWear grant highlighted the innovation in fashion across London and we were very impressed by the businesses that have been awarded grants. It’s fantastic to see a broad spectrum of circular fashion represented in the cohort of winners, with businesses in resale, rental, and repair. From pop-up events to expanding services, the businesses have strong and creative ideas on how the ReWear grant can support in reaching a wider audience across the city. We’re looking forward to seeing the impact those activities have in helping Londoners reduce the need for newly made clothes.
The ReWear cohort had the opportunity to meet each other in person at a kick-off event this week, hosted at ReLondon’s offices, where they were also joined by grant panellist Tracey Banks, Climate Action Programme Manager at the British Retail Consortium. The event gave the cohort the chance to learn about each other’s businesses and build connections.
These grants are made possible thanks to funding from UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Get involved
London Textiles Action Plan
If you are interested in learning more about the Pan-London Textiles Action Plan or want to explore how you can get involved, please get in touch.
In particular, we encourage brands and retailers, funders and local authorities to reach out and discuss opportunities to work together to drive London’s transition to becoming a global hub for circular fashion.
Apply to join ReLondon’s Circular SME Community
Join a growing community of businesses making London a low carbon, circular city. The businesses in our community range from ‘everyday’ SMEs redesigning their business for the good of the environment to innovative start-ups created with circularity at their core.
