Raymond Limited has come up with a charity drive which may also end up increasing sales at its retail counters. Under the plan, customers can walk into stores with a pair of old trousers which will be given away for charity. In turn, the company is offering free stitching services for a new pair.

The drive has been launched in 1,000 outlets across the country. In a pilot launch at 87 outlets two months ago, the company was able to garner over 15,000 trousers as donation. These donations also translated into sales though slightly less than the number of trousers customers gave for charity, Rohit Khanna, the company’s head of corporate communications said.

Apart from pushing charity, the drive is expected to bring back the culture of buying tailor-made trousers. It’s difficult to get the right fit in ready-made trousers. In fact the perfect fitting can be achieved only in tailor-made trousers, Khanna said launching the drive in Nagpur.

He said the drive was already being done internally with the employees donating old garments. It was planned to involve Raymond’s customers also, for that an incentive was needed, he said. The company also plans to help the tailoring profession in this way. It also runs training schools for this skill, he said.

-Apparel Talk, Indian Apparel