Charity Concern Worldwide launched Sustainable Fashion Week in Northern Ireland in late September 2026, an event planned by the organisation's retail director Fiona Anderson, aimed at "making charity shops cool again" and encouraging consumers who wouldn't normally set foot in a charity shop to try second-hand clothing. The event runs until Saturday 3 October, with all 8 Concern stores across Northern Ireland simultaneously changing their themed window displays, and textile artist Sue Bamford giving a live demonstration at the organisation's Ormeau Road store on how to upcycle old T-shirts. Revenue from Concern's Northern Ireland stores supports its global programmes assisting people living in extreme poverty.

Key Points

  • Concern Worldwide has been running Sustainable Fashion Week across 8 Northern Ireland stores since late September 2026, with the event continuing until 3 October.
  • Retail director Fiona Anderson joined Concern in May 2025, having previously worked at Oxfam and helped open its Holywood superstore.
  • Earlier this year, she was named "UK Charity Retail Leader of the Year" at an awards ceremony in Wales.

Anderson frames the event as "another way to take part" in the September fashion season. She says September is a major month in fashion, with all the big fashion weeks taking place during this period, and she wants to bring charity retail into that conversation too. In her view, second-hand clothing and sustainable consumption have never mattered more, and the organisation's mission is to keep clothes in circulation for longer. Although Concern doesn't produce fashion itself, she believes its stores have a role to play in changing "what happens after clothes are bought" — encouraging people to cherish the clothes they already own, to repair them, wear them again and again, share them with others, and finally donate them so they can begin another life cycle.

Anderson moved into charity retail during the COVID-19 pandemic, having previously worked in PR and communications. A long-time consumer of second-hand clothing and charity shops herself, she first joined Oxfam, helping to open its Holywood superstore, before joining Concern as retail director in May 2025. She notes that since entering the sector she has clearly felt a shift in people's attitudes towards second-hand clothing, and one of her priorities at Concern is making its stores friendlier places for new customers — creating a shopping experience people want to browse, while also attracting younger consumers, which is key to the organisation's continued growth.

On resale platforms like Vinted and Depop, Anderson's view runs counter to many of her peers. She says people assume charity retail and these platforms are competitors, but she completely disagrees: the more Vinted and Depop make second-hand shopping part of mainstream shopping, the better it is for all second-hand retailers.

Earlier this year, Anderson was named "UK Charity Retail Leader of the Year" at an awards ceremony held in Wales. She says the award exceeded her expectations so soon after joining the organisation, and shows that the changes it is making are working and heading in the right direction.

Concern's boutique on the Lisburn Road in Belfast is seen as a model for this approach, stocking selected designer pieces, vintage and high-quality clothing. Anderson describes the store as "holding its own against any Belfast boutique." Store manager Susan curates donated clothing into carefully arranged displays and also helps customers put together complete outfits: when a customer brings in a coat they don't know how to wear, Susan will pair it with trousers or a skirt and a shirt to create a full look.

This philosophy applies to Anderson herself too — when she got married last year, everything she wore was second-hand, with her wedding look created by her close friend Sue Bamford, who also led the event at the Ormeau Road store. She says many people were interested in their sustainable wedding approach.

In a recent LinkedIn post, Anderson wrote that consumers don't need to buy a whole new wardrobe to enjoy the creativity that a new season of fashion brings: they can take inspiration from colours, silhouettes, fabrics and styling, then ask themselves how to interpret those ideas with what they already have. For anyone thinking of visiting a Concern store, her advice is straightforward: bring along a piece of clothing from your wardrobe you no longer wear and donate it while you browse — "if you can donate one thing and take home something really special, that's the right way to do it."

Source: ‘Making charity shops cool again’: Concern Worldwide launches Sustainable Fashion Week across the north · Originally published 2026-09-29