“It’s our mission to rehome pre-loved items, reduce waste and help children around the world,” says Jennifer Sault, founder and managing director of Thrift for Good.
Sault has worked in the charity sector since 2003, including three years at Gulf for Good – the UAE charity that raises funds through bucket-list adventure challenges. Over time, she began to notice a gap in Dubai’s crowded fashion landscape: there were virtually no second-hand stores.
So, in 2020, she founded Thrift for Good, combining the feel-good altruism of charitable fundraising with the thrill of unearthing a thrifted treasure. Set up as a sister enterprise to Gulf for Good – on whose board Sault remains a trustee – Thrift for Good resells donated clothes, shoes, jewellery, bags and books, while donating 100 per cent of its profits to some of the world’s most vulnerable children.
A natural optimist, Sault is something of a force of nature. Armed with a master’s in non-profit leadership and philanthropy, and years of hands-on experience, she says one deeply personal experience proved “pivotal” to her fundraising journey. During a gap year, she volunteered with orphaned children in Nepal. Aged between three and 18, they were “the most beautiful children you can possibly imagine”, she says.
Sault quickly discovered, however, that the children were not orphans, but had been sent there by their families in the hope of receiving an education. Instead, she believes, whoever was in charge, chose profit over care. “There was no education. Four kids to a bed, bad nutrition standards and just not good care for those children.”
When she returned two years later, the home was empty and the children had disappeared. As she tried to trace them, she found herself dreading what might have happened.
The experience has haunted her ever since. “That’s what got me into charity work and just wanting to dedicate my life to being able to help kids,” she says.
From that experience, Thrift for Good was born. Its premise is straightforward: people donate unwanted goods, which are then cleaned, repaired and sorted by an army of volunteers before being sold across four outposts in Dubai. Industry experts are also brought in to appraise jewellery, offering shoppers greater transparency.
The aim is a more curated retail experience than the standard charity shop. At Thrift for Good, rails of high-street staples sit alongside carefully sorted designer labels such as Tom Ford, Viktor & Rolf, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Zegna and Loro Piana – all priced at a fraction of their original value.
While the Dh10 high-street pieces move fastest, Sault says it is the designer items that generate one-third of Thrift for Good’s revenue. That such expensive pieces are donated is not lost on Sault and her team. “We’re so lucky that people are so generous with their clothing here. You wouldn’t find that in a lot of other countries,” she says. “It’s beautiful that we can take the privilege of Dubai and use that to create something that transforms change and sustainability, in places where it can have a massive impact.”
To date, Thrift for Good has raised more than Dh4.7 million through the sale of more than 208,000 items. “We’re growing every year, which is really good to see.”
The backdrop to that success, however, is less elegant. According to reports, the global fashion industry produces upwards of 100 billion garments a year, 40 per cent of which are never even sold. Instead, they go straight to landfill or are exported to countries such as Chile, where they are dumped in unimaginable quantities. In Ghana, the waste is known as obroni wawu, meaning “dead white man’s clothes”.
“The global fashion industry is growing unchecked, and is becoming more and more unsustainable,” Sault says. By reselling pre-loved clothes, “we can turn what might have otherwise been waste, into treasure for kids,” she explains. “Our model is absolutely keeping it local. We don’t depreciate other economies by flooding them with used clothing. Instead, we set up empowering projects to help children gain access to education, healthcare and housing.”
Sault’s ambition is not simply resale, but to help close the loop altogether by encouraging repair, reuse and, ultimately, recycling. That includes Thrift for Good’s work with Landmark Circulife, the textile recycling centre that turns discarded cotton into raw material for new clothing. Opened in Dubai last year by Landmark – the company behind brands such as Splash, Shoe Mart and Home Centre – it is one of a growing number of circular-fashion initiatives in the UAE.
Sault’s long-term vision is ambitious. With Unicef estimating that more than 100 million children are linked to the global garment and footwear supply chain, millions are denied an education in order to work in factories or support their working parents. As well as helping to build a fully circular fashion ecosystem in the UAE, she is determined to eradicate child labour in Nepal within the next decade. It may sound insurmountable, but Thrift for Good is already making small but critical steps towards both. “I’m really excited about what we can do to help,” she says. “We’re getting close to closing the loop in circular fashion.”
To ensure full traceability and accountability, Gulf for Good vets every charitable project Thrift for Good supports, carrying out due diligence and applying strict criteria, with a preference for projects built around transparency and longevity. “We always go to visit the children’s charity projects that we support, and we’ve reached thousands of kids,” she says. “It really doesn’t take much to make a change in a child’s life. Just Dh1,500 – that’s enough for a kid to go to school, and to have food and shelter.”
Sault now plans to expand to Abu Dhabi this year, and then across the rest of the country – ambitions that have not wavered even as the region contends with wider tensions. “Something that’s been reinforced in my mind is that resilience is built through community,” she says.
Thrift for Good is, Sault believes, a “hidden gem” that will continue to grow through community engagement. Anyone with sewing skills is welcome to volunteer, while the stores are always looking for people to help paint walls or man the tills. She also hopes that those who are decluttering their homes and wardrobes will keep Thrift for Good in mind. “There are so many bite-sized ways to support a good cause, and I think people need that, especially here, and especially during times like this, right?” she says.
“As the world shakes with what’s happening, I think it’s a call to action to not let more children become vulnerable, and to do what we can to be a force of positivity and good around the world.”
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