A Manchester-based school uniform business can enhance the roll-out of its digital platform that connects schools and parents with pre-loved and affordable school uniforms after receiving £234,000 in support.
CRESS secured the backing in a pre-seed funding round led by GC Angels alongside One Planet Capital and a number of angel investors.
The funding will also help CRESS to expand its number of partnerships and scale its mission of making school uniforms more affordable, while tackling the environmental impact of clothing waste in the UK.
With the cost-of-living crisis placing a significant financial strain on families around the country, the demand for affordable second-hand school uniforms is growing rapidly.
However, many families are still sending perfectly good uniforms to landfill, rather than following a reuse or recycle scheme.
To combat this, CRESS’s platform provides a seamless process for parents to donate these, with families able to purchase them at a fraction of the cost. On average, parents can save up to 70% on the price of new uniforms through the platform.
Also, schools signed up to the platform receive more than 80% of the revenue from these sales.
To enhance its sustainability efforts, CRESS has partnered with Carma, a Manchester-based climate impact company. For every pre-loved item sold through the platform, CRESS will contribute to planting new trees across the UK, enhancing the ecological benefits of its platform.
It has also partnered with Awesome Books, which mirrors CRESS’s ethos to save products from going to landfill. Through this partnership, each order through CRESS will also receive a free, age-appropriate book, saving children’s books from going to landfill.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has supported CRESS in the roll-out of its platform, which has enabled CRESS to reach more than 1,200 schools across the 10 Greater Manchester councils.
Carl Morris, a seasoned entrepreneur, is the driving force behind CRESS. Having been part of the team to scale the Revolution bar chain across the UK in the 2000s, Carl now owns and operates Yard & Coop, a popular bar and restaurant in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. His partner, Katherine Molyneux, works full-time at CRESS.
