South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 07/02/2013

On Tuesday 5 February, trading standards handed over hundreds of items of counterfeit clothing to His Church which had recently been seized in South Gloucestershire.

His Church take the clothing away to be organised, remove the false labels and rebrand them with the charity’s logo before recycling the garments to homeless charities where they are then passed on to some of society’s most vulnerable people.

Storing fake clothes whilst waiting for a court decision can incur costs for customs and trading standards, and then once the items have been proved to be fake the authorities then have to find funds for incineration or landfill costs. The His Church charity has eliminated these costs by recycling the goods to around 250 homeless centres and women’s shelters across the country.

Richard Humphrey, Senior Coordinator of His Church charity, said: “We are very grateful to partner with South Gloucestershire Trading Standards, who put in a lot of hard work and dedication to take counterfeit clothing off the streets. This is not a victimless crime; their work is essential in fighting counterfeiting and the sale of counterfeit goods which has a negative impact on local businesses. The great thing about this partnership is that it not only takes profit away from criminals, it also helps some of the most vulnerable people in society to have new clothing, which can be crucial in helping conserve dignity and open up new work opportunities.”

Neil Derrick, Senior Fair Trade Officer with South Gloucestershire Council, said: “We are very pleased to have been able to benefit charitable causes at the same time as stopping criminal activity. We hope to maintain our relationship with the charity and continue to benefit vulnerable people.”