Wirral fashion shop known for celebrity donations is giving coats to local homeless charities

A Wirral fashion shop originally set up to support charities and known for its pre-loved celebrity pieces is giving away coats to local homeless people.

Worn By Us in The Pyramids in Birkenhead has pledged to donate one coat for every one that’s bought, partnering with four homeless charities to get them to where they’re needed most.

The idea came from Worn By Us founder Nicola Gleave, who has been reselling items for charity for the past 10 years since her own breast cancer diagnosis.

As the business has evolved, the shop now sells stock from retailers and brands alongside pieces from anyone who’s had a wardrobe clear-out.

Nicola says they were given a large amount of unisex padded jackets by Southbay clothing brand and realised they could put them to good use.

She explains: “Social purpose is at the core of what we do, so because we’ve already given the company a commercial return we thought, why don’t we do something to help locally?

“If people come in and buy any coat at all – pre-loved or new, any style – we’ll donate one of these Southbay quilted jackets to a homeless charity.

“We approached Wirral Ark who thought it was an amazing idea and they’ve put us in touch with the Charles Thompson Mission in Birkenhead, Make It Happen and Rek 41.

“We’ve already started distributing, the first batch has gone out, and we’re going to keep going until we give them all away.”

Nicola says the response from customers has been incredibly supportive.

“Some have bought one and given it straight back so that means we can actually give both to the charity. People from all different walks of life come in the shop and they really want to give which has been lovely.”

Nicola first started Worn By Us a decade ago as a charity project.

“I’d had breast cancer and had this idea that I could raise money and awareness by asking celebrities to donate items from their wardrobes,” she says.

“Lots of people just started sending me clothes, usually because they’d had a clear-out, given a pile to the charity shop but then still had a pile they couldn’t justify just giving away.

Nicola Gleave, founder of Worn By Us, at a breast cancer charity event

“Often they were brand new, they’d never been worn and still had price tags on, so I’d sell them and give the money to whatever charities they chose.

“As Worn by Us grew, sometimes the proceeds would be donated to charity and sometimes people would earn money from the sale themselves.

“Not everyone wants to sell on platforms like Vinted or eBay, so people were asking me to sell their pre-loved clothes but they wanted to get something back for them.

“That’s when we looked at creating a circular business model that works with retailers and fashion brands as well as consumers to keep clothes in use for longer.

“Retailers often have surplus stock, end of season and customer returns, so we ask them to give some of that and we’ll resell it in communities so people can get access to quality brands at affordable prices.

“We tell them what we’ve sold each item for, so they’re getting that transparency rather than it being shipped overseas in pallet-loads, and there’s a positive social impact.

“Not all want a commercial return for their stock, some will just give it and ask for the proceeds to go to a specific charity. Beaverbrooks, for instance, donate brand new jewellery which we sell online and that supports breast cancer charity The Pink Ribbon Foundation.”

The idea proved so successful that Nicola opened a pop-up in The Pyramids at Christmas 2023 which became a permanent shop.

Alongside its online stock, Worn By Us now has rails full of past season or returned stock from retailers and brands as well as items that people sell through them.

Nicola’s team takes everything, sorts it, prices it, and repairs it if necessary before clothes go on sale.

“We have people from across the country contacting us through the website wanting to sell items, so we have a real mix of brands and styles,” she adds.

“We have everything from high street right through to luxury designer and we still work with celebrities so you never know what you’re going to find which is what people love about the concept.”