Last year, the store opened an outlet in Nepaltar. In 2018, Sukhawati store received the award for the Best Non-Profit Organisation by the Asian Philanthropy Award for its effort in promoting sustainable fashion. The store claims they have received 30,530.73 kg of clothes so far and have already sold 179,774 pieces of clothing. "For those trying to be more environmentally conscious with their fashion choices, Sukhawati store is a great place to purchase thrifted clothes at reasonable prices." "I have been buying clothes from Sukhawati store since last year," says 20-year-old Sharmila Pun Magar, a student and a regular customer of the store. ![]() Of late, the store has also been attracting environmentally conscious youngsters adopting sustainable fashion choices. Now since it looks like a normal store, most of them visit, even if they don't feel comfortable buying the clothes," says Magar. "Before, many teenagers and even people of other age groups would feel shy to visit our store. Magar believes that the decision to focus on the store's aesthetics has helped attract more people. There's also a separate changing room for customers. Donated clothes are first sorted, and selected clothes are then washed, ironed, and displayed in the store. Once you step into the store, it's hard to discern it from any other clothing store. This encourages more people to visit the store," says Magar. "We learned that even if it's just a thrift store, the interiors should be designed in such a way that it looks like normal fashion stores. In 2019, when the store relocated to its current location from Mhepi, Magar says the foundation’s members decided to also focus on the store's interior design. Soon, our store had good quality clothes, and this attracted more visitors," says Magar. "We also started placing donation boxes in many of Kathmandu Valley's restaurants, housing areas, and shopping marts, places where we knew we would get good clothes as donations. Our focus has always been on selling good quality second-hand clothes," says Magar.Īt the end of 2014, they opened a physical store in Mhepi and used it as a drop point for people to donate clothes in good condition. "In the beginning, we discarded a lot of clothes because they weren't in good condition. Half of the clothes they received from their friends and families were in unwearable condition. But the group faced another major challenge. Instead, we focused on educating our visitors about thrifting and what we were trying to achieve," she says.Īs more and more people started buying their clothes, the business gradually started picking up. But we knew how helpful the store could be and didn't let other people's opinions deter us. "People would laugh at us saying that the idea won't work. ![]() "We also sold the clothes at Basundhara and Tudhikhel so people who are in need can have access to those clothes," says Samita Rana Magar, coordinator of the Sukhawati Store.īut in a country with a strong stigma of using old or pre-owned items of strangers, making people understand the significance of thrifting, says Magar, wasn't easy. The members of the foundation initially collected clothes from their circle of friends and families and sold the clothes from a garage of one of the members on Saturdays. "We wanted to charge a certain amount, however less it was, for the clothes as we wanted to use the money we collect for other philanthropic initiatives," he says. Although the members of the foundation wanted the store to help others, they didn't want to give clothes for free to people, says Gurung. In 2014, along with eight other members, Gurung started the Sukhawati Foundation under which the store runs. "When I returned to Nepal, I decided to do something similar here." I was fascinated by the concept that I even volunteered for two years at a thrift store called ‘Beautiful Store’ in Seoul," says Gurung. "In South Korea, there are plenty of thrift stores people can visit to buy second-hand clothes at affordable prices. ![]() Gurung says that he first became aware of the thrift culture during his decade-long stay in South Korea. "We decided to fill that gap by opening a store that would allow the needy people to buy the clothes they need under one roof." ![]() But when it comes to donating clothes in Nepal, there's no proper channel that connects donors with the needy," says Gurung. "The culture of giving and donating is intrinsic to Nepali society. The store's founder Chij Man Gurung says he initially opened the business to help the needy buy things at reasonable prices and to introduce the concept of reusing and thrifting in Nepal. Prices of clothes start from Rs 10 and go up to Rs 200. Located inside Samakhusi Town Planning, the store sells a wide range of pre-used clothing items at prices that many low-income families can afford to pay.
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