Project Pants
Nobody should be without underwear. Help us to restore dignity this winter.
Over 80,000 people in Edinburgh live in poverty, including almost 1 in 5 of all children. The impact of the pandemic and cost of living crisis is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable in our city. There is a real need in Edinburgh right now for donations of new underwear – pants, socks and bras.
Help be part of making a difference right now by donating to the Project Pants campaign.
What do we need?
We need donations of new and good quality pants, socks and bras.
Bring in your donations to Central Hall and put them in the Pants Bank in the foyer.
No time to buy pants? Donate money online instead – it will all go towards purchasing underwear.
What is Project Pants?
In 2020, as a response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Central set up a Clothesbank. We noticed that many people accessing the service were in need of underwear as well as clothes. In the winter of 2020/21 we launched a campaign to donate good quality underwear to those who needed it in our city. Through generous support and donations, we raised over 34,000 items of underwear which we have been able to distribute through our weekly Clothesbank over the past two years. This fund has now run out, and we are facing a winter without being about to provide underwear to those who need it.
“Since opening Clothesbank we discovered a symptom of poverty that we hadn’t previously been aware of. In these difficult times, so many people are facing the choice of whether to heat or eat. Buying new underwear isn’t the top priority and people are facing the undignified situation of not being able to afford the “luxury” of pants. At Clothesbank we’ve offered people the option to try on their jeans before they take them home, only for them to admit embarrassed that they can’t because they don’t own underwear. We give people a pack of pants and they immediately pop to the toilet to put them on.”
Clothesbank volunteer