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    This home store sells used brands for charity

    Dr Kalpana Santosham, a dentist from the city, has converted one room of her Egmore house into a store. She along with her sisterin-law Jessica Santosham has initiated a project called Chennai Closet Cleanse to promote the concepts of sustainability, thrifting and upcycling.

    This home store sells used brands for charity
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    (Left) From Chennai Closet Cleanse store in Egmore; Jessica Santosham and Dr Kalpana Santosham

    Chennai

    “As we all know, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. During a conversation with Jessica, we were talking about the economy and how some people are finding it hard to buy things. We decided to do something about it and started this project. People can donate their clothes and also buy them from us. After we announced our project, we received clothes from various brands like Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Rohit Bal, Sabyasachi, Zara and so on. And all these dresses are in a decent condition,” says Dr Kalpana.

    If you want to attend a party wearing a Ralph Lauren gown and don’t want to burn a hole in the pocket, especially, during this time, then you have to visit us, smiles the dentist.

    “The pandemic has taught us many things. And one thing I have realised about fashion is that we can easily live with whatever clothes and accessories we have. Most have this tendency of discarding clothes if there is minor damage. They are just adding to the million tons of textile waste that is created annually from the fashion industry. If people know some DIY tricks to fix clothes, they can reuse it. These days, there are a lot of online classes on upcycling and recycling. If nothing works and people still wanted to discard clothes, they can donate us instead of throwing away. Initially, we planned to sell the clothes for a minimal price online, but after we started getting a lot of donations, we thought of opening a home store,” explains Kalpana.

    The project was launched a month and a half ago, and Kalpana and Jessica didn’t expect such a good response within a short period.

    “By donating the clothes, you are doing a charity. A few NGOs have sought help and we have been giving all the proceeds from the sale to charity,” Dr Kalpana tells DT Next.

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