Press Release
Savers Asks Shoppers to Give a Sh!rt About Their Clothing Footprint

Thrift store chain challenges back-to-school shoppers to collectively save 700 million gallons of fresh water by replacing one new tee with a thrifted one

BELLEVUE, WA – While consumers are ramping up Back-to-School shopping, now the second-busiest shopping period behind the December holidays, national thrift retailer Savers is challenging people to show they Give a Sh!rt about their clothing footprint by making their next new t-shirt a thrifted one, and donating items they no longer need rather than throwing them in the garbage.

Each year, people consume over 80 billion pieces of clothing, causing the clothing industry to become one of the world’s biggest polluters. But a few small decisions about what you wear can make a huge difference for the planet. By making the choice to shop thrift, people can save up to 700 gallons of water that would go into creating just one new cotton t-shirt and 1,800 gallons of water that would go into making a pair of jeans. And donating your clothes to Savers’ nonprofit partners, instead of ditching them, can help keep hundreds of millions of pounds of reusable clothing from piling up in our landfills every year.

Through its unique business model, Savers is one of the world’s leading textile recyclers— keeping over 650 million pounds of reusable items out of landfills, annually.

#IGiveAShirt

This back-to-school shopping season, Savers is challenging people to come together to save 700 million gallons of water through one simple act: replacing one new t-shirt purchase with a thrifted one. If Savers gets 1 million people to choose a thrifted t-shirt in place of a new one, it’ll be the equivalent of saving over 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools full of water, before the first bell rings.

People can show off their thrifted tees and support this effort by using the hashtag #IGiveaShirt.

Back-to-School Savings

The National Retail Federation reported that parents plan to spend over $360 on clothing and shoes in 2016 – but there’s no need to spend that much. Knowing how quickly kids go through clothing, shoes, books and toys, shoppers choosing thrift help the environment and their pocketbook too. In fact, shoppers can save 70-90 percent on back-to-school basics compared to other retailers, with a full wardrobe for $100 or less. 96 percent of all items sold at Savers are priced under $10 and the average sale price of items in the kids section are $3.00.

Rethink, Reuse, Repost Visit www.rethinkreuse.com to learn more about Savers’ Rethink Reuse campaign and #IGiveaShirt. Connect with Savers via Facebook.com/Savers, @SaversVVillage on Twitter, @Savers_thrift on Instagram and Pinterest.com/SaversVVillage.

In celebration of National Thrift Shop Day on August 17, Savers and Value Village stores across the U.S. will host a one-day sale where thrift shoppers can find all t-shirts for men, women, children and infants marked down to 99 cents.

About Savers

Savers is a for-profit privately held global thrift retailer offering clothing and accessories for men, women and children and household goods. Through its unique business model of purchasing, reselling and recycling secondhand merchandise, the Savers family of thrift stores (including Value Village, Unique Thrift and Village des Valeurs brands) benefits more than 120 nonprofit organizations, gives local consumers a smart way to shop and saves 650 million pounds of quality used goods from landfills each year. Savers pays its nonprofit partners for donated goods, turning otherwise unused items into sustainable funding that supports their missions. Savers operates more than 330 locations with 22,000 employees in the United States, Canada and Australia. For more information, please visit www.savers.com.

TVI, Inc. d/b/a Savers and Value Village is a for-profit professional fundraiser. Visit savers.com/disclosures for state specific disclosures

Media Contact

For more information, contact Savers Director of Communication, Sara Gaugl, [email protected].