Initiative through local partner, Berliner Stadtmission
Berlin, Germany, 2016-Jan-14 — /EPR Retail News/ — Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., the leading Japanese retailer which operates several international brands, including UNIQLO, today announces the donation of almost 50,000 items of clothing to support people seeking asylum in Germany through the winter. The distribution takes place through UNIQLO’s local partner, Berliner Stadtmission.
The donation includes over 39,000 pieces of new Men’s, Women’s and Kids’ clothing, and around 10,000 items of gently used clothing donated by customers at UNIQLO stores in Europe. Over 50 employees from UNIQLO Germany and abroad will volunteer to sort and distribute the items in refugee camps across Berlin and the surrounding area on Saturday, January 9th, and Sunday, January 10th.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Jean Shein, UNIQLO Global Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, said: “We are very happy to be able to support Berlin’s refugee population with warm clothing during this time of the year as temperatures drop lower and lower. This initiative is the result of thousands of our customers in several countries donating gently used clothing and shows how the sum of many individual actions can have a truly large impact. We are grateful for this support and the warm welcome we have received from Berliner Stadtmission and the many volunteers to implement this initiative as part of our 10 Million Ways to HELP project.”
Fast Retailing began the All-Product Recycling Initiative in 2006, through which UNIQLO in 16 countries and regions collect lightly used clothing from customers for distribution to refugees, displaced people and people in need.
UNIQLO started its local partnership with Berliner Stadtmission in March 2015 including monthly donations of gently used clothing to local people in need as part of the All-Product Recycling Initiative.
The donation taking place this coming weekend is part of the 10 Million Ways to HELP project, a joint initiative between Fast Retailing and its long-standing global partner, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to provide clothing for a growing number of refugees worldwide. This global campaign launched in UNIQLO stores across 16 countries and regions in October 2015, to encourage customers to donate lightly used UNIQLO clothing.
To date, Fast Retailing has collected and distributed through UNHCR more than 10 million items of lightly used clothing to refugees across 37 countries and regions.
SOURCE: UNIQLO CO., LTD.