Helena Mansell-Stopher, founder, managing director, Products of Change, led a panel of change leaders – Amanda Gallagher, sustainability and brand manager, George @ASDA; Shelia Brown, chief executive officer, Newlife; Steve Lynam, managing director, Pre-Loved Kilo; Jack Ostrowski, founder, chief executive officer, Yellow Octopus – during BLE Virtual today to highlight how brands can drive ethical, social and sustainable change. 

“I think our most exciting pillar is around circularity, and I think has suddenly become more relevant to our customer post-COVID,” says Gallagher. “So, with a new life and routine, we work really closely with Sheila and her team on products that are normally hard for us to dispose of or don't naturally fall into other buckets. So, New Life supports us with that with that, and it effectively does what it says on the tin and gives new life to those garments. With Jack, our partnership here gives the choice to our customer on how they can dispose of unwanted clothing. You have the choice to avoid putting it in into landfill or putting it into the bin, you can send it back, rotate it and get a discount on your next online purchase as an incentive. Then, with Steve it was something new and quite disruptive in the marketplace for us to partner with Pre-Loved when we launched our sustainability store in middle term. I think that was something very new and very unexpected for George @ASDA and that's been an amazing partnership that's just growing as we speak.” 

The range of partners, experts and product disposal specialists went on to discuss the varying nature of sustainability from corporate responsibility to consumer-driven choice, touching on numerous must-know strategies along the way. To watch the full video on-demand, watch “Brands for Social Change” on the Brand Licensing Europe Virtual Platform by registering here.