Primark launches pre-loved pop-up shops

The fashion brand is teaming up with circular clothing company Verte to open a limited number of pop-ups in select Primark stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester this month. 

Customers will be able to bring in five items of clothing, bags, hats or scarves which will be able to be swapped for digital tokens on the Verte app, which can then in turn be used to swap for other pre-loved items. 

Any un-swapped or unwanted clothes will either be kept for the next event, donated to local charities or placed into in-store donation boxes, the retailer said.

The first Swap Shop event will be in the brand’s Westfield Stratford City store from September 13 to 15 to coincide with Primark’s London Fashion Week event.

The next will be held on September 16 and 17 in Manchester Market Street before finishing at Primark’s Birmingham High Street store on October 16 and 17.

Primark Cares director Lynne Walker said: “We truly believe in helping people to love their clothes for longer, and our latest partnership with Verte allows us to do just that.

“Welcoming Verte into our stores will help us to better engage with a community of like-minded fashion lovers who really care about where their clothes will go to next.

“We hope our pop-ups will encourage more people to participate in the growing circular fashion economy and with an opportunity to do so in their local Primark store.

“We’ve all got clothes in our wardrobe we keep meaning to wear but never get around to, so we’re excited to see Verte give new life to the clothing swapped by our customers and colleagues.”