Guest speaker: Hayden from Clothes For Good

Our club enjoyed a great presentation last night by Hayden (on the left in the photo), founder of Clothes For Good. Hayden started the first op shop in the Pacific three years ago, and through the op shop funds are raised for charity projects related to domestic violence, people living with disability, animal welfare and more. There are currently two op shops in Fiji: one in Nabua and the other in Lami, suburbs of Suva. While Clothes For Good is volunteer run, staff in the op shops are paid.

Hayden started Clothes For Good here with a van, driving around Melbourne picking up donations of clothing suited to a warm climate, which would then be shipped to Fiji. A key process before shipping is to sort all the donations, something Hayden’s mum helped with in the beginning, with the farm shed on the family property being used to store bales of clothes! Fortunately for Hayden’s mum there are more volunteers now doing the sorting, and there are partnerships with op shops here, and partnerships with some childcare centres where Clothes For Good bins are located so children’s clothing can be donated.

A staggering fact was for every 100 tonnes of clothing sorted, packed and shipped to Fiji, there’s about 150 to 160 tonnes of donations that aren’t suitable and must therefore be discarded as responsibly as possible.

Hayden gave us some confronting facts about domestic violence in Fiji: Fiji is in the top 5 highest countries in the world for violence against women, with 64% of Fijian women—nearly 2 out of every 3— having experienced experienced violence from an intimate partner. There are hardly any support networks. One of Clothes For Good’s main causes is DV shelters in Fiji. Funds raised from the op shop contributed towards gates at the DV shelter to keep the residents safe, and a new roof.

Another major cause relates to animal welfare, with Clothes For Good offering free desexing programs and feeding. Sadly the Fijian government often poisons stray animals.

Disability organisations are also a high priority for Clothes For Good. 1 in 10 kids aged two to 17 in Fiji have a disability. Accessibility is not a government priority. With the population in general, poor nutritional habits lead to severe health outcomes such as diabetes and amputation.

While Clothes For Good is focussed on Fiji, they’re also helping out locally in Australia. Donated winter clothing isn’t sent to Fiji, instead it’s either donated to organisations with op shops such as Helping Hands, or sold at pop-up shops to raise money ($9500 was raised at the last sale!). Over 15 tonnes of winter clothing has been donated locally.

Clothes For Good is a fascinating story, and Hayden and his team deserve many congratulations and recognition.

Thanks Hayden for visiting our club!