Beating poverty with style

9th October 2009

An Oxfam Boutique has opened for trade in Cardiff after a launch event with talented Welsh designer Elliott Frieze at the store on St Mary St in the Welsh capital.  

The opening of the Cardiff store sees the first Oxfam Boutique to open outside London. This Oxfam shop is targeted at the fashion market and at people who care about both what their clothes look like and the impact of their clothes on people and the environment. They provide shoppers with unique style, beautiful one-off clothes, and the assurance that every item will raise money to fight poverty around the world.

Val Griffiths, Oxfam Area Trading Manager for Wales, said, "These boutiques are all about creating a great shopping experience. Oxfam has always been a place where stylish people hunt for interesting items to create their look, the boutiques are set to make that even easier. Our customers have told us they want a more contemporary shopping experience, and these new shops are set to turn the traditional concept of an Oxfam shop on its head."

Elliott J Frieze, a Cardiff born fashion designer who has modeled for Paul Smith and a collection of his designs have been worn by Yasmin le Bon, Lily Cole and Erin O’Connor at London Fashion Week, was at the event to help launch the exciting venture.

Elliott J Frieze said, ”It’s very exciting for me to come back home to Cardiff to help launch such a great fashion venture. I’ve seen the boutiques in London and I think that they’re really raising the bar of ethical and sustainable fashion. You’ve got  fantastic and interesting one-off designs being created from donated clothes, sold to raise money for Oxfam.  It’s a win-win for everybody!”.

Reworked pieces unveiled at the launch have been created by fashion students from the BA (Hons) Fashion Design course at the University of Wales, Newport from an array of Oxfam donated items ranging from evening gowns to duvet covers. They will be on sale at the Oxfam Boutique in Cardiff. The students received 45 black sacks full of donated second-hand clothing and fabrics and have had 10 days to create original designed items ready for the launch event. This is the first project of the partnership between the Oxfam Boutique in Cardiff and University of Wales, Newport fashion students. .

Irene Dee, Senior Fashion Design Lecturer at University of Wales, Newport said, “This is an inspirational project for the students. Zero Waste Fashion and designing around ethical and environmental sustainability is high on creative design agendas throughout the fashion industry”.

Glamorous Welsh celebrities such as Cerys Matthews, Amy Wadge, and Sarra Elgan, to name a few, have donated items of clothing in support of its opening. And Lucy Owen, who presents the nightly news programme BBC Wales Today and consumer show X-Ray for BBC Cymru Wales,  has donated a Julien Macdonald dress to the new Oxfam Boutique in Cardiff.
 
The Boutique will sell clothes, jewellery and accessories that are a mixture of high end donated items, restyled items, Fair Trade and sustainable new fashion.

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