The Clothing Store offers essential clothing to asylum seekers who arrived at the initial accommodation with little or no luggage. The Clothing Store has developed a request and delivery process which offers Emergency packs, Support Clothing and essential item, such as shoes, hats, gloves etc.

The Clothing Store also offers ‘Welcome to the World’ packs to expectant mothers in initial accommodation and asylum-seeking mothers in the community. These packs consist of new baby clothes, new towels, blankets, hand knitted baby layettes and hand made blankets. Generally, Knitters of Sanctuary provide all the handmade items. Funding for Welcome to the World packs comes from agencies and many items are donated. In the past churches and groups have made up packs.

Baby equipment and clothing

The Clothing Store also offers decent secondhand baby equipment such as Moses baskets, bedding, baby prams and pushchairs for toddlers. Decent secondhand clothing is also offered to all mothers with babies in initial accommodation. The requests for baby items comes through the Community Health Worker who works at the initial accommodation centre and with the asylum-seeking community.

Delivery to Initial Accommodation

Urgent requests for all other clothing can now only be made to welfare staff at both initial accommodation venues. We then deliver items direct to the initial accommodation venues.

Request and collect for local people

Local asylum seekers, new refugees and people not in initial accommodation, can visit the Clothing Store to request clothing. They can fill out forms or text – when the items are ready arrangements are made for collection or delivery. Local people can also request small household items and spare bedding.

Some blankets and towels are sent to the initial accommodation so that people can take them to dispersed accommodation.

If you have items to donate to the clothing store, please see our donation page here.