Edinburgh businessman's bid to help garment workers in Bangladesh following pandemic
Retailers were forced to cancel contracts without paying after closing their stores.
An Edinburgh businessman is hoping to help thousands of garment workers in Bangladesh who have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, by selling boxes of unsold clothes.
Cally Russell, who is the CEO of clothing app Mallzee, founded the new venture after hearing how badly affected workers in Bangladesh would be.
Retailers across the UK were forced to cancel orders of clothes from workers without paying for them after closing their stores when lockdown was introduced in March.
'Lost Stock' allows people to buy a box of clothes for ÂŁ35 after filling in details about what kind of items they'd like including their size, what their preferred fit is and what type of pattern they like. This information then generates a minimum of three items to send to the customer, which would ordinarily be worth around ÂŁ70 on the high street.
Money from each box sold will go towards the Sajida Foundation - which will help to provide food for a worker and their family for a week.
Cally said: "You get to buy a box of fashion products that were destined for leading high street brands and retailers that have then been cancelled meaning that they've not been paid for and left at the factory.
"A box costs ÂŁ35 and is then personalised to your own tastes.
"Most people will be wearing something that has been produced in Bangladesh, so it was natural for us to gravitate towards that considering what we do at Mallzee.
"For every box we sell, it provides food for a worker and their family for a week.
"That also includes stuff like soaps so that they can wash their hands and hopefully stop the spread of coronavirus in Bangladesh as well."
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