Walks And Walking – Gift Your Gear

Gift Your Gear launches nationwide collection event

Do you have any spare walking boots, walking jackets, walking trousers or general walking accessories? Why not Gift Your Gear?

A BBC Study (UK Youth Cite) found that 16 percent of British adolescents between 12 and 15 are considered overweight or obese. Physical activity is necessary in young people’s lives. The British Heart Foundation points out that physical activity participation by children and adolescents can significantly enhance their self-esteem and self-concept, while being effective at reducing depression, anxiety, psychological distress and emotional disturbance.

Olfio’s donated to Gift Your Gear go to Explorer Scouts.

Gift Your Gear is a scheme which aims to get more young people active. Preloved, but unwanted, waterproofs, fleeces, thermal underwear, boots and packs that are gathering dust can be donated at any Rohan store, where it can then be distributed to national young people’s charities.

It’s estimated that Brits wear an item of clothing on average for less than a third of its useful lifespan. Therefore Gift Your Gear can provide a new home for this unwanted outdoor gear. Sarah Howcroft aims to see Gift Your Gear donate one million items of reused, yet quality kit, to the UK’s youth, to get them outdoors.

Gift Your Gear is a nationwide initiative that aims to provide outdoor clothing and kit to UK charities working with young people in the outdoors. Founded last year by Sarah Howcroft, Gift Your Gear was set up to encourage people to donate any outdoor gear they no longer use or need.

A previous Gift Your Gear event also partnered with Rohan, the award winning outdoor and travel clothing company. This month long event yielded a whopping 6,000 items of used outdoor gear that was donated via the 59 Rohan Shops in the UK. After the event the outdoor gear was distributed to the charities, with priority given to organisations that have, or intended to establish, an outdoor equipment gear pool. This is done in order to ensure that the maximum number of people can benefit from donated gear.

Sarah Howcroft, founder of Gift Your Gear, stresses the importance of the reuse of outdoor gear. She says; “If an outdoor jacket is worn for a couple of years and then ends up forgotten in the back of a wardrobe, its full potential is never reached. Most outdoor gear will last much longer than people want or need it to. If that jacket is donated through Gift Your Gear to a local community organisation, youth group or charity that works in the outdoors, not only is the useful life of the jacket extended, but another person gets to experience the joy of good gear as well.”

The Gift Your Gear event starts on September 1st and ends on the 31st September. Take your unwanted outdoor gear to a Rohan shop during the month of September (that’s all outdoor clothing, walking boots and includes children’s clothing regardless of brand) and receive a 15% discount to spend on any new item in the shop on the day.

Gift Your Gear invites any charities working with young people in the outdoors to contact them here.