We’re all aware of fast fashion and the impact it has on the environment, but have you ever stopped to consider where your childhood toy is now?
By the time children are weeks old, many of them have accumulated piles of stuffed animals – nearly 80% of all toys end up in landfills.
That’s where Loved Before, a company that rescues and restores second-hand toys to give them a new life, comes in.
Ahead of the release of one of the most anticipated sequels of the year, Toy Story 5, the SW Londoner spoke with Loved Before’s founder and CEO Charlotte Liebling about both her business and the movie.
The idea for the business started from her living room floor with a post-it note.
“I was spending some time in a charity shop and I begun to notice just how many soft toys were being donated,” she said.
“Often that handover moment was a really big one – those toys had great emotional and sentimental value.
“But unfortunately, they were either thrown into a box and sold for pennies or as dog toys.”
Charity shops are overwhelmed by how many toys they get and so they can just go straight in the bin, according to Charlotte.
What does Loved Before do to help tackle this problem?
Think of them as a soft toy rehoming agency.
For starters, they have their very own “stuffie spa” where toys receive a clean and refresh before they go to their new homes.
Credit: Loved Before
The soft toys are sold in major retailers including Selfridge’s, Fenwick, and Bloomingdale’s, as well as online.
Each toy comes with a bio which is often written by their previous owner to capture their spirit ready for their next adventure and ultimately saving them from landfill, the ocean, or incineration.
Charlotte said: “I’m very much of the Toy Story generation.
“Those films impacted me and I always go back to that scene where Jessie, Woody, Buzz and the other toys are sliding towards the incinerator. It’s real.”
Toy Story 5 will be released this Friday and explores the new world of children with screens.
Whilst the threat in the film comes from a Lilypad tablet, how do screens actually impact the lifecycle of toys in real life?
Charlotte said: “Now as children you see stuff all day long because you have access to a world of retail, trends, consumerism via screens.
“Trends are easier to access and children are asking for more things than they ever have before.
“I can only hope that if they have access to a screen they might also have access to Loved Before and will be plugged into that storytelling as well.”
The Toy Story franchise is, at its core, a tale of the friendship and enduring love between children and their toys.
Andy keeps his toys all the way until he goes to college then he donates them to Bonnie so they get a second life.
Charlotte said: “Loved Before is capturing that sentiment and saying yes this is a beautiful concept in a film – let’s make it real.”
Featured image credit: Loved Before
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