Threads for Care launches new partnership with Wiltshire fashion and arts students

A new ‘thread’ for our sustainable retail brand

We’re excited to launch our new partnership with Wiltshire College & University Centre, working with the fashion, textiles and art students to save unwanted clothes from our Warehouse rag bins, transforming them into unique garments that can be sold to raise vital funds for end of life care.

The partnership, which involves first and second years studying Level 3 fashion and textiles and first years studying Level 2 art and design, came about after lecturer Helen Chivers heard about our Threads for Care initiative.

This partnership with Wiltshire College is our 4th collaboration for our Threads for Care brand, which will play a vital role in supporting income for the Hospice as well as provide valuable learning for the Trowbridge campus students about the implications on the charity when we receive unsaleable clothing items via our 30 charity shops.

As the Hospice celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, this partnership aligns with our new strategy – it’s personal; bringing to light how working collaboratively with our community is at the heart of our hospice values to care, connect and create when it matters most.

Creativity over consumption

As fast fashion continues to be a growing problem, this partnership offers a meaningful opportunity to educate and empower local students of their environmental legacy, while developing their own creative skills.

Over the next two months the 42 students will be using the waste clothes, known as rags, to create new pieces, while developing their own creative skills.

The first year fashion and textiles students will take inspiration from an exhibition at the V&A Museum in London about Marie Antoinette to create high street fashion versions of grandiose party dresses.

The first year art and design creatives will be presented with bags of rags chosen at random from the waste pile at the charity’s Corsham warehouse. They will cut the clothes into strips and then weave, knit or knot the strips into bags – using decorations, pockets and other details to stamp their own personality on them.

They will also be using their skills and imagination to upcycle denim clothes, transforming them with embroidery, painting or textiles, and adding a personal message.

Old clothes, new statements

The second year fashion and textiles students will use rags to design and create spectacular, eye-catching outfits that promote sustainability to be modelled on fashion shoots and at a fashion show at the college.

“Threads for Care fits very well with the ethical and sustainable theme that runs through all of our fashion and arts courses,” said Helen. “It felt like a natural fit for us because we want to promote sustainability, recycling and the message of fast fashion excess, as well as an ethical responsibility towards society, by giving back and getting involved in a positive way with our community.”

All of the pieces will be on the catwalk at the fashion show at the college on June 18, which will also be organised and run by the students.

“They’ll be learning to work collaboratively with each other and the client,” she said. “They’ll have to work to multiple deadlines so they will need to be organised. They’ll also be learning lots of making skills and progressing the existing skills relevant to their specialism or their stage on the course.”

The project gives the students, who are destined for university or foundation course places and eventually careers in the fashion industry, a golden opportunity said Helen.

“Being able to take their work out of the classroom and put it in a real world context, where somebody might buy what they make from an actual shop, is something you can’t create within the college environment, so the value of this project is enormous.”

“We’re so grateful to Dorothy House for agreeing to it. Working with their team will give it a very different flavour for the students, they’re going to have to respond and manage themselves in a sensible way, so they’re learning lots of very subtle, soft social skills as well.”

Diversifying the Dorothy House retail portfolio

The energy and enthusiasm the students have injected into the Threads for Care brand has been invaluable so far, of which will continue to play a vital role in helping us to diversify our retail portfolio to a younger audience.

Not only is this partnership is a fantastic opportunity for our audiences and our shoppers, but is also helps us on our mission to reduce the amount of clothes going into landfill and lower the costs of having to dispose of unsaleable donations via rag and waste.

We look forward to seeing how the students repurpose, recycle and epicycle the rag items into bespoke pieces, as well as attending the College’s fashion show on the 18 June.

Get involved!

If you’re a local artisan, designer or craftsperson with a passion for sustainability and community, we’d love to collaborate!

We would love to hear from creative individuals who can support Dorothy House by transforming our rag waste into something new and inspiring. Whether your craft is clothing, homeware or something completely bespoke, please get in touch today by emailing comms@dorothyhouse-hospice.org.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you!