Highland woman helps clothe domestic abuse survivors with dignity
A Highland woman has started a charity to give dignifying help to those living in clothes poverty.
When Rachel Bews (32) was in a Women’s Aid Shelter she noticed a pile of bin bags that were sitting there.
Full of donations from kind strangers wanting to help, the clothes were for the women who were fleeing with nothing.
But what is it like to rake through bin bags of ill-fitting, worn out clothes when you are at the lowest point in your life?
This is when the idea for Alicas was born to provide good quality clothes and belongings to people that fit.
Based in Evanton, Rachael explained: “Alicas came about several years ago when I was being supported by local women’s aid refuge and saw that the room that my sessions were in were full of bin bags of clothes.
“When I asked what they for my support work said for the women they support.
“I thought it was amazing and people are very generous but sometimes donations are not in the best condition and are visibly dirty, smell or have holes and they don’t have the space to store them or the time to filter out.
“Women were coming in with just the clothes on their backs and then having to go through bags in poor quality.
“It is so symbolic of when you are already feeling low self-esteem and at your worst point and forced to go through bin bag. Having to go through ill-fitting or culturally inappropriate clothes.
“I had this sense that this situation shouldn’t be the case and overriding feeling is that the public want to help. We can change what we are asking for.”
Through research Rachael found that the problem was not just impacting her local Women’s Aid, but also other third-sector charities across the country.
She discovered the UK landfills and shreds half of unworn clothes annually and that 5.5 million people are living in clothes poverty.
Her aim now is to try and close this gap between surplus clothes and trying to get it to the people who need it.
Just before the pandemic, Rachael ran a pilot scheme and was blown away by the social demand for clothes.
They diverted 3500 garments from waste, wardrobes or brands and distributed 120 capsule parcels of 30 outfits each to people across the UK.
After the pandemic Rachael took some time as she had two children and worked out how to build a sustainable model for Alicas.
Now they have a range of sustainably made staple wardrobe pieces that people can buy in order to provide money to distribute parcels to people.
She said: “We had many requests from agencies working with us which encouraged us to get things back up and running again.
“There was an inquiry from a London Women’s Aid group saying they had a client who had no clothing, and they had been scouring the internet trying to find organisations to sign post to and only by sheer luck they found us.
“That moment solidified that there still is this massive need to do what we are and in a bigger way.”
The name Alicas comes from a name of one of Rachael’s friend called Ali who said what you need in the moment is a nice coat and a pair of shoes to give you some confidence - CAS.
She said: “If you have a good coat and shoes you have armour to put on and feel good about yourself.
“That stuck with me, her words were ringing in my ears - even if we could just do something that felt personalised and was trauma informed.
“It’s providing that thing when people are feeling at their lowest and showing them that someone cares about them.
“It’s about supporting them, giving them dignity and confidence which is so important.”
Alicas operates because people give donations of clothes and a lot of that has come from the Highland community.
She said: “If people do have clothing that they want to donate, we do local collections and they can contact us.
“The community have been so pivotal in what we have done and I’m so grateful for the support.”
