The new “circular economy initiative” will enable customers to “quickly and easily” donate unwanted clothing to five charities: Scope, Marie Curie, British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross or The Children’s Society. Under the scheme, DPD will collect pre-loved clothing donations from ASOS customers’ doorsteps and deliver them to one of those five UK charities for free.

The service launched this week April to coincide with charity shops reopening in England and Wales. ASOS customers expecting a DPD delivery will be able to use the YourDPD app to select a charity. DPD will then collect the consignment at the same time as making the ASOS delivery.  Customers will also be encouraged to re-use DPD or ASOS packaging. “Donating garments to charity is currently one of the more responsible ways that consumers can dispose of pre-loved clothing in the UK”, noted the pair.They added: “With no infrastructure or systems in place in the UK for households to recycle textiles themselves, an estimated 350,000 tonnes of clothing is sent to landfill each year in the UK, potentially worth around £140 million”. Patrik Silén, chief strategy officer at ASOS, said: “We know that our customers are very active in donating their pre-loved clothing and that they see it as a great way of keeping products in use and out of landfill, so partnering with DPD on the ReLove initiative is a natural fit for us. [We] look forward to seeing our customers’ response over the coming weeks”.