Circular fashion concepts and other efforts in greener retailing are set to be showcased at the second annual Cambridge Grand Arcade sustainability event, next month.
Running between 21-29 October, the Let’s Go Circular event aims to highlight various ways local businesses are offering products and services with environmental welfare in mind – and educate shoppers in different models of consumerism.
Like last year, the Cambridge Grand Arcade will host exhibitions, family-friendly activities, and pop-up stalls, but new for 2023 is a pre-loved pop-up shop and an exclusive ticketed eco-fashion show. Organisations confirmed to take part in this year’s gathering include Give Your Best, Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Millers Music, Eco Bee, Sew Positive, Reimagine, Trash Chic, Qhere, Fantasia, Mouse and Bear, Kath Goodwin, Bubbly Bandits, and the Peterborough Environment City Trust.
Offering reasons for hosting such an occasion, Martin Macwhinnie, general manager at the Cambridge Grand Arcade, said there is “huge demand for more responsibly sourced and alternative ways of shopping” – which he noted was in evidence last year when the event ran for the first time.
“Circular ways of living not only have a positive environmental impact but also can help people save money too,” he commented.
“As a shopping centre, we have an important responsibility to showcase the best circular economy initiatives. What better way to host them all under one roof allowing our visitors to learn, share, and connect with others – for free!”
Julie Kervadec, marketing manager at Grand Arcade, added: “We were overwhelmed by the response to last year’s Let’s Go Circular, where almost all of the workshops we hosted were fully booked with waiting lists, and anticipate the same this year thanks to our stellar line up.”
Not-for-profit social enterprise, Give Your Best, which allows people to donate clothes online so refugee women and children, and other communities living in clothing poverty can shop for free, is hosting The Good Fashion Show. The aim is to promote circular fashion and empower marginalised women and children.
This ticketed event will transform the walkways of the shopping mall into a catwalk, and – according to the shopping centre – will feature female refugees and asylum seeker models wearing a collection of ethically and responsibly sourced catwalk fashion straight from the high street.
Among the other events on the itinerary are mending workshops and a home energy advice session with Cambridge Carbon Footprint.
[Image credit: Cambridge Grand Arcade]
