A pop-up for pre-loved school uniform

Gemma Hyde from Castle Quarter with the school uniform collection

Castle Quarter in Norwich is opening a ‘given in kindness’ pop-up event in the New Year, so parents/carers can pick up some pre-loved school uniform for free. Marketing Manager Gemma Hyde explains more

Castle Quarter will be making pre-loved school uniform items available for people to collect for free this January. Over the summer, the centre organised a ‘given in kindness’ collection of school uniform, with more than 600 pieces of clothing generously donated by members of the public. The team at Castle Quarter have been busy sorting through all the shirts, blazers, trousers and skirts to ensure all the pieces are in a good, wearable condition and can be passed on to other children at the start of 2025, for free. Girls and boys pre-loved clothing will be available, in a range of sizes, starting from 5 to 6 years, and going up to 17 to 18 years.

Pre-loved school uniform items at Castle Quarter

Gemma Hyde is marketing and administration manager at Castle Quarter and says they were overwhelmed with kind donations from the local community, with some people even dropping off new items of clothing for the collection.

Gemma says: ‘We put a call out for good quality items of school uniform that either hadn’t been worn or was no longer needed. Rather than seeing perfectly good pieces of school uniform going to waste, we wanted to organise a collection here, so that we could then organise a pop-up for parents and carers. It means school uniform items are being upcycled, passed on and worn again.

‘Thanks to the generosity of the local community, we’ve got pre-loved school uniform ready to pick up, helping local families save a little extra this January. Items include blazers, jumpers, PE kits, skirts, trousers, shoes, and more.

‘For anyone who needs some replacement uniform before school starts again in January, please just drop in and make use of the pop-up uniform shop.’

To make sure it benefits as many children as possible, Castle Quarter is allowing people to collect one set of uniform per child.

When and where is the pre-loved school uniform pop-up?

The Castle Quarter ‘given-in-kindness’ school uniform pop-up will be open on Thursday 2^nd and Saturday 4^th January, 2025, from 9am to 4pm, where people can pick up pre-loved items, for free.

Go to the centre management office on level three (take the escalator or lift outside Superbowl). Just drop in.

What can you collect for free?

School uniform items that are in a good, wearable condition, including:

One set of uniform per child, including a blazer, cardigan or jumper, shirt, trousers, skirt of dress and one pair of shoes or plimsolls.

Find out more at castlequarternorwich.co.uk

Featured images supplied by Plain Speaking PR