The Wakefield costume emporium diverting clothes from landfill and helping people into theatre

"That young man’s aunt has has sadly passed now, but she wanted him to have the broach as a reminder of that day and how much she valued the time they had spent together,” Steven continues. “He felt that while he loved it, it was a shame leaving it in a draw collecting dust, so he thought of the Costume Emporium as a way that the piece could have another life and bring joy to people...There’s some lovely stories that have come with some of the items.”

The Community Costume Emporium launched in The Ridings Shopping Centre last week, its aim twofold. The team at Empath Action hope the pre-loved items will help to remove barriers to participation in art and theatre whilst also diverting good quality clothing or props away from landfill in an environmental sustainability drive.

The idea is that the availability of low-cost costumes will make productions more accessible and also challenge the notion of having to buy new.

Empath works in partnership with creatives in Wakefield to produce theatre, film and other arts as well as running workshops. Though it has been in operation little over a year, it has accumulated hundreds of pounds worth of costumes including from a steampunk show which toured local libraries last summer as part of Wakefield’s WordFest.

“Costumes are so important for helping actors get into character, and helping audiences more easily see the scenes that are playing out in front of them. But they can be so expensive,” Steven says. “If you are a solo creative, a start-up performance company, or training and needing costumes for performances on which you will be graded, this expense just isn’t viable.”

And so Steven, with fellow co-director Joanne Broadhead, came up with the idea for the costume library, which has been supported with a near-£10,000 grant from The National Lottery Community Fund.

The Community Costume Emporium means that, for a small deposit, performers in the area are able to take out costumes, props, and scenery for their own productions, use them, and then return them in good condition for others.

People are being encouraged to donate clothes that they would like to see have a second lease of life to the emporium, which will also see items like wood boards and crates be repurposed to be used for scenery.

“In this way, we hope to further add to the growing and urgent sustainability movement in Wakefield and beyond, and help to make the creative economy in Wakefield more circular,” Steven says.

“We want to move to a place where we’re also contributing to making theatre and the work we do as sustainable as possible. Some of the items we have got are new but a lot are pre-loved items that other people have made, worn, etcetera. All these strands formed this idea of the community costume library.

"People can donate items they no longer want but they don’t want to necessarily throw away because they feel they are too good to go to landfill and we will repurpose them into costumes and other items.”

Empath Action CIC will also be running workshops focused on sustainability, teaching people skills such as how to sew and mend their clothes.

“The real purpose of that is to have fun, build a community and also to teach people the skills that maybe they’ve not had, that have caused them to have to give up their favourite jeans or whatever else,” Steven says. “We hope that by doing these workshops, people will be able to give their own clothes another lease of life.”

The Community Costume Emporium will open Mondays and Tuesdays between 10am and 3pm at Empath Action’s Imaginarium space in The Ridings Shopping Centre, supported by the Art House and its Makey Wakey scheme. Visit empathaction.org