The Green Heart Collective wins the Best Emerging Second Hand Enterprise 2023 Award.
The Green Heart Collective is a social enterprise located in Gateshead, UK, that focuses on reducing waste, particularly clothing, from landfills. They do this by taking preloved clothing, repairing and reworking them, and selling them in curated collections online and in-store. Social enterprises have a mission to do good for the world. The profit they make is reinvested or donated by at least half to their social or environmental mission. The profits from the Green Heart Collective go back into the business to build a more sustainable circular retail model.
The Green Heart Collective prioritizes creating a sustainable and transparent enterprise, reducing waste, challenging overconsumption, building a community, and taking action. Above all, they put people and the planet above profit.
The Green Heart Collective was launched in 2019, with the founders Andy and Helen Redfern, selling their used products on Amazon, eBay and Depop. In 2023, they opened a new second-hand shop on Gateshead High Street and have been helping organizations and individuals shop for used items and prevent them from going into the landfill. They sell everything from clothing to yoga equipment to books to homeware.
Moreover, the Green Heart Collective’s Gateshead store has a refill station where you can bring in your own container to fill with washing-up liquid, multi-surface cleaner, laundry liquid, and toilet cleaner. They also provide a stock of vegan foods.
In 2022, the Green Heart Collective wrote an article for Happy Eco News about the biggest challenges of buying secondhand and how to overcome them. Some of the tips provided were about finding the right price, finding your favorite brands, changing up your wardrobe, and embracing slow fashion. The ultimate message was that buying secondhand is very rewarding and is the way forward to protecting our planet.
The Green Heart Collective’s online and in-person stores aim to provide their customers with a satisfying, rewarding, and enjoyable experience. They also want to normalize buying secondhand and demonstrate its benefits. Some of these benefits include:
- Cost savings – used items will generally be priced lower than their brand new counterpart. In some instances, you might be able to negotiate prices with the original owners to ensure that you are getting the best price.
- Reduced environmental impacts – used items will return to circulation and not landfills. Moreover, by keeping these items into circulation, it eliminates the need for new items to be manufactured.
- Reduced packaging- used items typically involve less packaging than buying new. This helps in minimizing the amount of waste.
- Vintage and unique finds- you may find items that are no longer sold at regular stores. This can be appealing to those looking for distinctive or one-of-a-kind pieces.
- Support for local economies – buying used can contribute to your local economy and create a sense of community.
The Green Heart Collective incorporates all of these benefits into their business. This is why the Green Heart Collective was awarded the Best Emerging Second Hand Enterprise 2023 by the Small Medium Enterprises (SME) News as part of the Northern Enterprise Awards. The SME Northern Enterprise Awards celebrates the achievements and success of the entrepreneurs and small to medium businesses that make up the UK’s North.
The founders and the team at the Green Heart Collective are excited to have won this award; it is pushing them to continue providing used items to their community. It is encouraging to see secondhand stores being recognized for awards like the Northern Entreprise Awards. The need for more secondhand stores and more normalization of buying used is necessary in our fight against climate change. We can’t wait to see what the Green Heart Collective will do next and how it will inspire other social enterprises and small businesses.
