The group thought carefully about how to make the stall attractive to parents and also remove any stigma that might exist around pre-loved uniform. The shop began around the time of COP26 and so they used the school eco-committee as a hook to get people interested and involved.

“It means it’s not just about the economics of it, it’s ‘let's all do this and join in’ and isn’t a thing that the kids aren’t embarrassed about. It normalises it, doesn’t it. It was to remove any stigma that was there if there was any, focusing on the eco side of it.” 

Spreading the message

The group trialled a flyer asking parents and carers to donate unwanted or outgrown uniform at drop off. They made sure to specify that clothes should be good quality and washed: “We want to keep the vibe that its good quality stuff because we want people to actually want to use it.” 

Parent volunteers help to sort through donated uniform items before displaying them on a clothing rail:

“At the last one we had someone who has two children and she was like ‘this is fantastic, they grow so quickly’. So hopefully that message will spread.”

What's next?

In the future, the group hopes to tie the pop-up shop in with other school and community events so that people can browse casually while doing other things. They would also like to highlight the pop-up shops to parents at key points in the school calendar.

“We’re keen to tie it into P1 inductions, we’re keen to have new parents aware of it so they’re not spending a fortune on things for P1 that they’re only going to wear once and then grow out of.  Before people go out and buy, they could have a look at what we have and take what they need and maybe the bulk of things they can get from us.”

Other ideas you might like

Read more about what's happening at Giffnock Primary School.

Giffnock Primary School case study