London,
24
October
2012
|
23:00
Europe/London

Hackney Council trading standards donate seized clothes to charity

Counterfeit clothing worth £12,000 has been re-branded and will be distributed to war torn Liberia, thanks to Hackney Council and a Bedfordshire-based charity, taking the total to £37,000.

Hackney Council’s Trading Standards team has a duty to protect the consumer rights of residents and shoppers in the borough, and regularly conducts counterfeit seizures. The £12,000 consignment was seized by Council officers during operations earlier this year, and while fake goods are normally destroyed to stop trade mark laws being broken, by donating the goods to charity, the Council has been able to both help those in need, and divert refuse away from landfill.

His Church Charity, which specialises in re-branding counterfeit goods and sending them on to other charitable organisations, received the goods last month, and they currently on the way to Liberia along with a sewing machine where they will be given to families in need of clothing and shelter.
 
The charity has also previously delivered other items of re-branded clothing to Stoke Newington's North London Action for the Homeless (NLAH) as a thank you to the Council for the donation.

Councillor Feryal Demirci, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, says “Hackney Council is pleased to be working alongside this charity to help others by donating clothing that would otherwise be destroyed. It's fantastic that when our trading standards officers take these off the street they go on to benefit those who need our help and support, and also help to protect the environment.”

Richard Humphrey, from His Church Charity, adds "Our relationship with Hackney Council can only be described as a win, win partnership. The Trading Standards team does a superb job do seizing illegal counterfeit clothes, and we are delighted to fully de-brand and re-brand the items, which means rather than being destroyed, they can directly benefit some of the most vulnerable people in Hackney."
 

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