On Sunday, Oxfam revealed it had peeked into the underwear draws of British women and found a surplus of bras. British women, the NGO found, are hoarding nearly £1.2-billion worth of "unwanted" bras. Oxfam found the average British woman has nine bras in her collection and spends about £16 per item, but then proceeds to leave three of these unused in her closet.
Armed with this knowledge, Oxfam has launched a campaign to persuade British women to part ways with their surplus bras. The aim is to collect one million unwanted bras this month. Many of the bras will be sold in Oxfam's UK high-street shops, while the remainder will be shipped off to their ethical second-hand clothing project in Senegal, Frip Ethique.
Oxfam describes Frip Ethique as a social enterprise in Senegal that employs women, who sort and sell clothes donated to the NGO - including bras - to local market traders. "It's a great way of making sure donations make the most money possible. And it's also a great way of enabling people to earn a living," Oxfam says in promotions for Frip Ethique.
According to them, Frip Ethique employs 40 people and last year sold a total of 2 000 tonnes of used clothing, translating to £1.5-million in turnover, a 35% increase in profits from the previous year.
Read the full story on www.FreeAfricanMedia.com
Free African Media is an initiative of The Daily Maverick team, in collaboration with journalists from all over Africa. With free, quality media and freedom of expression under attack from just about every corner of African reality, it's become more and more obvious that a concentrated, Africa-wide effort is needed to help the fight, and Free African Media aims to do just that. It will function as a platform dedicated to freedom of expression throughout the continent, as well to helping improve the overall quality of reporting, analysis and opinion Africa-wide. Like Free African Media on Facebook; follow on Twitter at @africanmedia and, to contribute, email moc.aidemnacirfaeerf@krow.
Go to: http://www.freeafricanmedia.com
