Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell
Victoria Ford – credit Derian House Childrens Hospice

 

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network.

Thrift Shop Buried Under ‘Rags’ Gets Helping Hand from Designer Who Wants to Reduce Landfill Waste

By Andy Corbley –

An English thrift shop that found itself buried under mountains of old donated clothes has gotten a helping hand from a talented designer.

Recent fashion and design graduate Victoria Ford approached the shop and offered to transform some of its unwanted rags into bespoke pieces for sale at premium prices.

The thrift shop proceeds benefit Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley. Still, rather than generating revenue to pay for the hospital’s expenses, the shop had mostly become a dropping off point for unwanted clothes, which piled up in “eyewatering amounts”. It sat unsorted in huge sacks in the shop’s warehouse.

Most would have probably ended up in a landfill if it weren’t for Ford’s belief in second-chance fashion and an eye for quality.

“Rather than letting things go to waste, I wanted to help Derian House give their unsalable clothing a new life, and to turn them into something others can enjoy,” Ford told the BBC.

Mick Croskery from the Derian House shop said Victoria’s collection was attracting a new crowd to the shop.

Victoria’s collection – credit Derien House Childrens Hospice

Running on “super tight margins” and “inundated with rags” too worn down, or with holes, stains, or burns, to sell on, Croskery said, “it is that kind of stuff that Victoria has repurposed for us that we couldn’t sell.”

They used to pay 70 cents per bag of donated clothes, but the shop was receiving so many “rags” that they eventually lowered the price to 15 cents.

Ford has had to get creative to make use of the excess, but she’s been doing just that since she was 10, she said, finding items in similar thrift shops and transforming them with her sewing machine as a child. She’s redesigned dozens of items and even made a handbag out of an inflatable mattress.

Derian House Children’s Hospice cares for more than 400 babies and toddlers, children, young people, and their families, and costs more than £6 million ($7.8 million) to run annually.

The good news in this story is that usable clothing is being made from what would otherwise be landfill rags, all while helping with child Hospice care. Today’s JohnKu talks about utilization. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Victoria by John W. Howell © 2026

Dignity assured,

From humble rags and genius . . .

We need more like her.

 

77 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  3. The truly is a wonderful thing that the young lady is doing for a noble cause. It’s also amazing to see some of the stuff that is thrown out or donated to thrift shops. Some people rags really are another person‘s riches.

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  14. “We need more like her.” Indeed, John. What a great idea! I’ve heard that donated old clothing usually ends up in landfills; how nice that this stuff is being repurposed for a good cause!

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  22. Throwing away clothes is such a waste. We give away our used clothes to various charities assuming they are still in good shape. We don’t know what happens to them after that. Hopefully, someone on a very tight budget gets to use them. I am so glad this woman is turning landfill rags into nice clothes. It saves the environment and helps people.

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  28. Love this story, John. It’s right up my alley.

    Rags to riches… maybe. Rags to a healthier planet… a bigger maybe.

    Your JohnKu says we need more like Victoria. There are a few in Toronto now. I believe it’s a trend – 100%.

    Thank you!

    🐂 🐂

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  33. John, when this post popped up in my inbox, I couldn’t wait to read it. And then … whatever … suddenly I realized that I hadn’t read it. So I clawed my way through all my (still) unread WP posts and here I am. I LOVE this! I do sew, just not as much as I did when I was younger and living on low wages. When I was 17, I repurposed a pair of my mom’s gold curtains into a wrap-around top. I think I was the only person who appreciated the rather bright and fancy top but so be it 😉

    Reading stories like this renews my faith in young people as well. And I expect Victoria Ford will become a sought-after designer. Thank you for sharing this.

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