John Lewis pilots ‘buyback’ service

John Lewis is piloting a service that collects any unwanted clothing bought from its 50 shops and web site from its customers’ homes and, regardless its condition, pay the customer.

The pilot was developed with social enterprise Stuffstr and is being tested by over 100 John Lewis customers. It is app based and works on the basis that a customer can select which clothes they want to sell. Once they have £50 worth of clothing, a courier will come and pick up the items within three hours. Customers then receive the value of the items on a gift card.

The returned items are resold, mended so they can be resold, or recycled into new products.

“It’s estimated that the average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes, but around 30 per cent of that clothing has not been worn for at least a year, most commonly because it no longer fits,” said John Lewis sustainability manager Martyn White.

“Every item has value, even old socks, and we want to make it as simple as possible for John Lewis customers to benefit from their unwanted clothes,” said Stuffstr chief executive John Atcheson. ”This service gives customers an incentive to buy high quality, longer-lasting products, and buying such products is a win for both customers and the environment.”