We know that the world has woken up to becoming environmentally conscious. And that’s a great thing. Recently, our team attended Canada’s sustainable fashion conference in Toronto. The WEAR Conference is one of the best places to go in the industry. From that conference, we returned with an even bigger commitment regarding Shoe quality. For our shoe drive fundraisers, quality matters, and we’re going to explain why.

Or Foundation

One of the speakers who helped reminded our team about the fact that quality matters was the Or Foundation. The nonprofit seeks to change the dynamic for people in developing countries “…to escape the predominant violent socio-economic system of corporate colonialism and to change it from within.”

During their presentation, they spoke about the Kantamanto Market in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. This happens to be one of the largest second-hand markets. As a result, they receive 15 million pieces of clothing per day. You’re probably thinking that’s amazing. Unfortunately, according to reporting, 40% of it ends up as waste. In short, quality matters.

Quality matters for clothing and shoes

As any of our school and nonprofit partners know, we’re a leader in the shoe drive fundraising market because we care about quality. We have over 4,000 micro-enterprise partners in 24 developing nations who Partner with us in commerce. In other words, they get the shoes from us as a supplier and sell the footwear in their communities for profit.

As our more than 20,000 shoe drive fundraising partners in the USA know, we’re always talking about the quality of the shoes. There’s a reason for it. We know our partners want to get paid by us in a unique fundraiser. But, for our for-profit social enterprise to make the impact we need to make with our micro-enterprise partners, we need quality shoes gathered in the fundraisers.

There are several reasons why it’s a must for us to ensure that our partners collect gently worn, used and new shoes.

1.     Quality of the shoes.

We insist on gently worn, used and new shoes because our micro-enterprise partners must be able to sell the shoes collected by our fundraising partners. If they can’t sell the shoes they get from us, they can’t earn a sustainable living. The fact of the matter is that people want to wear shoes that look good.

People in developing nations, just as in the USA, won’t buy shoes with holes in them. Would you do that? Probably not. It defeats the purpose of wearing shoes. So, for our micro-enterprise partners to make a good living, they need shoes of good quality to sell. That means shoes with laces, no holes, good soles, etc.

2.     Fashion matters.

We know in the USA that we have a thriving fashion industry. That’s great for the economy, but fast fashion isn’t a great thing in totality. A lot of fast fashion is made of synthetic materials. As a result, the apparel isn’t durable. And often, the quality of the fabric looks poor and unfashionable.

It doesn’t matter where people live anywhere on the planet. People want to look and feel good about themselves. So, our Microenterprise Partners have a much higher chance of selling fashionable shoes, not old and dated. In other words, while we take all kinds of shoes, micro-entrepreneurs have a greater chance of a higher profit with fashionable shoes.

3.     Quality means efficient resources.

The circular economy means we want to keep things usable for as long as possible. That’s why purchasing high-quality brands is the way to go—they last longer and make us more efficient. But when the time comes to donate them to a shoe drive fundraiser, for instance, those shoes you paid more money for because they’re high-quality will last longer.

Quality shoes are designed with attention to detail that extends their life. For example, high-quality leather tends to last years. Well-made shoes look good, and they last longer. By contrast, low-quality shoes have a limited lifespan because they’re poorly constructed. So, you’re lucky if they last long enough for you to wear—let alone others who may buy them second-hand.

Our moment to do better.

We find ourselves at a particular moment in the history of our planet. We know that we caused the climate crisis. But we also know that we can redefine our future and improve it for everyone, not just some nations and corporations. Still, it takes all of us doing our part to think through how we create waste.

And for example, it also means that when participating in a shoe drive fundraiser, considering the need for high-quality shoes for micro-entrepreneurs to sell. In short, quality isn’t a buzzword for us. It’s the cornerstone of what we do and ask of our partners. It’s a necessity. But when we pay attention to it, it’ll create an environmentally and economically sustainable future.

Want to learn about fundraising and marketing? Visit our webinars, ebooks, YouTube, or Facebook for what you need to know and more.

© 2023 Funds2Orgs. All Rights Reserved.

The post Why Quality Matters for Repurposing Shoes appeared first on funds2orgs.com.