The world’s first cashless fashion boutique, The Exchange, has been opened by NATIVE at Cavendish Square in Cape Town.
Stocked with clothing and accessories from more than 25 of South Africa’s top designers, nothing in the store can be purchased with cash or credit cards – only by becoming an organ donor.
The concept for The Exchange was conceived by Ryan McManus, executive creative director at NATIVE.
“Fashion has typically been synonymous with consumerism,” he explains. “We were looking for a way in which we could change the currency of meaningless consumerism and shift it to the currency of life by purchasing fashion with organ donor registration.
“We partnered with the Organ Donor Foundation and came up with the idea of opening a fashion boutique where, in exchange for a garment, the consumer can literally purchase an item by registering as an organ donor to potentially save lives.”
Samantha Volschenk, executive director of the Organ Donor Foundation SA, says, “It’s not often that we come across such a compelling piece of work that will undoubtedly make such a big impact on our organisation. Each donor registration can hopefully save seven lives and with over 500 items in the boutique, we hope to reach a target of over 3500 possible lives saved. This will be an incredible result for us.”
The pop-up boutique opened 10 May 2013 and will remain open until all the clothing and accessories have been “exchanged”. This means any fashion conscious Capetonians with big hearts had better move fast.
Stocked with clothing and accessories from more than 25 of South Africa’s top designers, nothing in the store can be purchased with cash or credit cards – only by becoming an organ donor.
The concept for The Exchange was conceived by Ryan McManus, executive creative director at NATIVE.
“Fashion has typically been synonymous with consumerism,” he explains. “We were looking for a way in which we could change the currency of meaningless consumerism and shift it to the currency of life by purchasing fashion with organ donor registration.
“We partnered with the Organ Donor Foundation and came up with the idea of opening a fashion boutique where, in exchange for a garment, the consumer can literally purchase an item by registering as an organ donor to potentially save lives.”
Samantha Volschenk, executive director of the Organ Donor Foundation SA, says, “It’s not often that we come across such a compelling piece of work that will undoubtedly make such a big impact on our organisation. Each donor registration can hopefully save seven lives and with over 500 items in the boutique, we hope to reach a target of over 3500 possible lives saved. This will be an incredible result for us.”
The pop-up boutique opened 10 May 2013 and will remain open until all the clothing and accessories have been “exchanged”. This means any fashion conscious Capetonians with big hearts had better move fast.