Wear and Share Leeds is a charity that focuses on clothing reuse and community sharing, through their two main campaigns, the Leeds School Uniform Exchange and the Leeds Winter Coat Appeal. Whilst the name is new, the campaigns have been successfully operating for a number of years – under Zero Waste Leeds.

We decided to rebrand in a move to sharpen our focus on helping people share good quality clothing they no longer need to help others and to reduce textile waste.

In Leeds, around 4,000 tonnes of clothing ends up in household bins every year, but Wear and Share Leeds are helping to change that. Our projects have kept large amounts of clothing in circulation – easing financial burden on local families and being kinder to the environment.

The Leeds School Uniform Exchange, which has been running since 2020, has supported 3,656 families in the past year by redistributing 22,880 free items of school uniform for free, saving families an estimated £388,960 they didn’t have to spend on buying new.

Similarly, the Leeds Winter Coat Appeal last winter gave out more than 8,900 items of warm clothing to children and adults across the city. This saved Leeds household roughly £272,863 in clothing costs, as people could get a coat for free rather than having to buy a new one.

Beyond the cost savings, the environmental benefits are significant. By reusing donated coats and uniforms, we have saved nearly 10.4 tonnes of textiles from being thrown away and cut carbon emissions by around 208 tonnes in the last year. To put it in perspective, the carbon saved is equivalent to what would be emitted driving around the world almost 43 times!

This dual impact – helping families and protecting the planet – is what Wear and Share Leeds aims to continue and grow.

Wear and Share Leeds are led by co-managers Debbie Binnersley and Tracy Morgan. Both have worked in the field for a number of years with plenty of experience and who both run their own uniform exchanges in their spare time where they live.