Ealing School Uniform Drop-Off: Help Reuse and Save

Ealing School Uniform project has been running since August 2025. We continue to collect school uniform and clothes hangers that you and your family no longer need at one of the locations listed below around Ealing Borough. These school uniforms will be used in pop up school uniform free shop and swaps around Ealing. By reusing and wearing school uniforms for longer it prevent waste and help families save a bit of money.

We need clothes hangers as well. If you have any good quality hangers you no longer need, please donate them at one of the drop-off points across the borough.

With children growing up, they are regularly getting too small for their school uniform, so please drop this off at one of these collection points listed below. Accepted at the drop off points is branded and unbranded Ealing school uniform items, such as shirts, skirts, trousers, tops and jumpers. Also, sportswear such as tops, shorts, trousers are also accepted. You can also include footwear and school bags. All donations should be hand-me-down quality, clean, washed and laundered.

For full information about the project at Ealing School Uniform Swaps.

School Uniform Drop off Points

Take your school uniform donations and any clothes hangers to donate to one of these drop off points listed below. Please click on the link to find out opening times:

• Acton Town Hall Library, Everyone Active Acton Centre, High Street, Acton, W3 6NE
• Greenford Library, Oldfield Lane South, Greenford, UB6 9LG
• Northfields Community Library, Northfield Avenue, Ealing, London W5 4UA
• Perivale Community Hive & Library, Horsenden Lane South, Perivale UB6 7NT
• Southall library and Dominion Centre, 112 The Green, Southall, UB2 4BQ
• West Ealing Library, Melbourne Ave, London W13 9BT

Donate school uniforms that are clean and in good condition. These will be part of the regular pop up school uniform free shop and swaps around the Ealing borough See School Uniform swap for next event.

For more advice on getting the most out of school uniform see Ealing Repair Cafe’s article on how to extend the life of school uniform.

Pre-loved Uniform and its impact

Uniforms and sports kits are necessary (but sometimes costly) expenses. “The Wrong Blazer 2020” report by The Children’s Society highlights the significant financial burden that school uniforms place on families’. Their survey shows that parents spend an average of £337 per year on uniforms for secondary school children and £315 for primary school children. These costs are more than three times what parents consider reasonable.

We buy 3 times as many clothes as we did in 1980
and wear them for half as long.

Fashion reimagined

The waste produced by clothes and textiles industry is massive and the mountain of discarded clothes in Chilean desert is visible from space. There are enough garments in the world to dress the next six generations. Yet the number of clothes being produced in the global north is soaring. Those clothes discarded ends up in poorer countries and polluting their coastlines, such as this beach in Ghana.

Clothing also has a significant carbon footprint and results in huge amounts of waste, with the sector responsible for 10% of overall global emissions, according to UN estimates. The clothing industry consumes more energy than the aviation and shipping industry combined. Water use is a huge issue for the clothing industry with cotton being a very thirsty plant. For example, the making of a cotton t-shirt uses 2,700 litres of water BBC says, so lets make all those drops of water worth it by wearing it for longer.

So to make everyone’s life that little bit easier, our school Uniform swaps will pop up around the Ealing Borough. Our first was at Sterling Road on Saturday 16 August. We will also have further pop up swaps coming up in September. By passing clothing on, it is good for bank balance and good for the environment.

School Uniform Free Shop & Swap

Free School Uniform free shop and swap are run around Ealing borough, go to School Unform swaps to get latest dates.  

On the day you can choose up to 4 school uniform items to take home for free per child. This is to make sure there’s enough available for everyone to take some uniform. If you have unwanted hand-me-down quality washed and laundered items you can also drop them off to us on the day.

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