It’s August, which means it’s South African Women’s Month, where we honor and celebrate women – the backbone of our beautiful country - and the courageous actions they have taken to make our society a better place.
We say thank you to the women who, every day, perform extraordinary feats in caring for others, fighting for justice, and working to uplift the conditions of our women and their families.
WISI-Oi’s reason for being
At WISI-Oi, we’re all about self-empowerment, and we are proud to be a vehicle that offers South African men and women a means to earn an additional income in these extremely difficult times, by facilitating everyone to sell their gently-worn preloved fashion while giving buyers access to stylish clothing that is affordable.
Everything we do is underpinned by our reason for being. We are helping to educate our community about:
- Attainable ways to extend the life of a garment
- Conscious consumption of fashion
- Increasing the fashion exchange movement through shared fashion
- Reduce the need to shop for new
- Ways to earn an extra income through preloved clothing
"Celebrating the woman is a year-round responsibility. 90% of our boutiques are female-owned, and they are the lead drivers of our sustainability efforts."
CELEBRATING WOMEN
This month, we’d love to pay it forward to the women and people of all genders who are doing phenomenal work in giving other women a hand up.
We’re celebrating two woman-led NPOs that are doing their part to empower women and their families to earn a living through generating an income from what others may regard as waste.
They also offer skills development with training in business practice and, at the same time, they are helping to make fashion more sustainable.
Clothes to good
Clothes to Good has formed a sustainable ecosystem by helping to alleviate poverty for many families by “empowering mostly women to start and sustain their own businesses” through selling recycled clothing and other goods, as well as creating employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the fashion and recycling industries.
The goods received are sorted into different categories: Re-use, repair or donate; upcycle; downcycle; shred, or incineration, depending on the grade. The funds from this are used to support various social initiatives.
Their micro-business program empowers women and mothers of children with disabilities to become successful entrepreneurs in their own communities through selling recycled, preloved clothes, fashion accessories and other textiles.
The third branch is development of skills and employment opportunities for vulnerable children in low-resourced early childhood development programmes and people with disabilities and their families.
The Clothing Bank
The Clothing Bank offers unemployed South Africans the means to become “self-employed business owners, irrespective of their education levels and resources, as long as they are self-motivated and well supported (mentally and emotionally).”
Their aim is to successfully assist families to chart a path out of poverty by helping them start their own businesses and become socially and financially independent.
Their three projects include
The Clothing Bank Project - Gives unemployed mothers a two-year training programme as they are helped to start their small businesses.
They also offer local women training and support to open GROW Educare Centres in their community. This gives children the essential early learning they need for a good life foundation, supplies daycare to mothers so they are able to find work, and provides the business owner with an income.
Thirdly, the Appliance Bank recruits and trains unemployed men (preferably fathers) to repair damaged and customer-returned small appliances received from The Clothing Bank’s retail partners, which they then sell on to their community.
Their impressive track record speaks for itself. From their branches in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, East London and Paarl, they have supported over 3 000 South Africans and generated over R100 million in profits for their businesses in their 12 years of existence.
We give heartfelt thanks to the incredible people at Clothes to Good and The Clothing Bank for their sustained drive and efforts in supporting and empowering the most vulnerable people in our South African community.
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