Our ShopsWe're Royal Trinity Hospice, London's answer to sustainable fashion. We think our charity shops are some of the best around. Come and visit us soon! Home Find a shop Donate goods Volunteer Sustainability Consultancy Shops news Fashion Revolution Week: why sustainable fashion matters Fashion shouldn’t cost the earth. But right now, it does. Fashion production is the planet’s second most polluting industry, accounting for around 10% of global carbon emissions. It is also estimated that the fashion industry generates 92 million metric tonnes of waste every year, much of which ends up in landfill. Closer to home, the impact is just as stark. According to ReLondon, research in 2023 revealed that Londoners add approximately 155,000 tonnes of new clothing to their wardrobes each year, while around 142,000 tonnes are discarded. Much of this clothing has been worn only a handful of times. However, the same research showed that small changes could make a huge difference. By swapping just 12 new items for second-hand alternatives and repairing only 5% of existing garments instead of throwing them away, Londoners could reduce the city’s fashion-related carbon footprint by up to 30%. These figures make one thing clear: how we choose to consume fashion matters. As part of Fashion Revolution Week, we want to be open about why sustainability sits at the heart of Royal Trinity Hospice shops and how small changes in how we shop and donate can have a powerful impact. London’s answer to sustainable fashion Our charity shops play a vital role in raising funds for Royal Trinity Hospice, helping us provide free end of life and palliative care across our London community. But alongside fundraising, we are deeply committed to operating in a way that does not harm the planet. We believe sustainability and charity retail can, and should, go hand in hand. The resale of preloved fashion through our shops is inherently circular. Each year, Royal Trinity Hospice shops help save over 300 tonnes of goods from landfill, including the resale of more than 350,000 preloved items. All stock you’ll find in our shops is 100% donated. We never buy stock, with the sole exception of our Christmas cards, which are produced sustainably. With 23 shops across London, every donated item sold helps fund vital care for Londoners while reducing waste. It’s not just about the clothes Being sustainable is not just about selling preloved fashion, it is something we have built into every corner of our shops. When creating our signature shop look, we wanted to ensure our spaces not only looked good, but did good too. That meant paying attention to the details and choosing materials and suppliers that are kinder to the planet. Here are some surprising ways sustainability shows up in our shops: Our Brixton light fixtures are reclaimed vintage factory pendant lights from Peppermill Interiors. Choosing vintage saves natural resources by avoiding new production and keeps these beautiful lights from going to landfill. We used recycled pallets from Brixton Market and turned them into tables, seating, and even planters. Created by InUse ReUse, a local business making reclaimed materials accessible, affordable, and far less wasteful. Many of our mannequins are from Pasqual Arnella. They are made from sustainable paperpaste, an organic, recyclable, and biodegradable material. This Habbio sofa in our Wimbledon shop is 100% recyclable, made with recycled fabrics, sustainably sourced wood, and non‑toxic materials. Even the cushions use textile waste and ocean‑bound plastics. All our shops use Little Greene’s water‑based paints, which have some of the lowest VOC levels in the industry and are virtually odourless. They’re durable, washable, and much kinder to the environment. Beyond what you can see in our shops Beyond what you can see on our shop floors, sustainability is embedded into how we operate as a business. In 2022 we embarked on a review of our retail operations to ensure that sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, whether it is visible in our shops or not. From electric vehicles and innovative stock rotation systems, to reducing single‑use plastics and prioritising sustainable or recycled materials in our shop fittings, we are constantly working to minimise our environmental impact at every stage of the process. Just as importantly, we’re committed to making sure nothing donated to us ever goes to waste. While not every item can be sold in our shops, every donation is handled responsibly, with clear processes in place to ensure items are reused or recycled wherever possible. If you’d like to learn more about how we factor sustainability into every aspect of our work, you can explore our approach in more detail here: Our commitment to sustainability Manage Cookie Preferences