Last night, tucked between the familiar rhythms of one of Cambridge’s busiest shopping destinations, something quietly revolutionary happened.
The launch of Give Your Best’s new pop-up store at Grand Arcade was, on the surface, another retail opening. There were goodie bags, conversations over drinks, rails of carefully curated clothing and a crowd drawn together by a shared interest in fashion and sustainability.
But to describe it as a shop launch would miss the point entirely. Because Give Your Best is not really in the business of selling clothes. It is in the business of restoring dignity.
As someone who has spent years working in charity communications and championing sustainable fashion, I have seen countless organisations talk about impact. Many are working to tackle poverty. Others are focused on reducing waste and making fashion more sustainable. Give Your Best brings those two challenges together in a way that feels both practical and powerful.
Founded in 2020 by Sol Escobar, Give Your Best has grown into an award-winning social enterprise addressing clothing poverty and fashion waste through one integrated model that connects the two.
The statistics alone are sobering. Millions of people across the UK are living in clothing poverty, while mountains of perfectly wearable clothing continue to be discarded by consumers and retailers alike. Rather than treating those issues separately, Give Your Best built a solution that addresses both at once.
Its pioneering platform allows individuals and brands to donate clothing, which can then be selected online by people experiencing clothing poverty, including refugees, asylum seekers, survivors of trafficking and women escaping domestic abuse. Crucially, recipients are not handed whatever happens to be available. They choose for themselves.
That distinction matters.
Choice is often overlooked in discussions about aid and support. Yet clothing is deeply personal. It is tied to identity, confidence, culture and self-expression. Give Your Best understands that receiving support should never mean surrendering agency.
That philosophy is now being brought to life in physical form through its innovative pay-it-forward retail model.
The concept behind the Grand Arcade pop-up is brilliantly simple. Customers can browse and purchase pre-loved and surplus fashion items at accessible prices. Every purchase then funds free shopping for someone experiencing clothing poverty in exactly the same space.
In a world where support services are often hidden away, segregated or burdened by stigma, that feels quietly radical.
The model challenges assumptions about charity, consumption and community. It asks us to imagine a retail experience where social impact is built directly into every transaction rather than bolted on afterwards.
And perhaps that is why the space itself feels so powerful.
The design of the store, created by Carly Cook, deserves particular recognition.
Too often, purpose-led retail spaces can feel worthy but uninspiring. This was neither.
From the moment visitors stepped inside, the environment felt unmistakably Give Your Best. Every detail reflected the organisation’s identity with confidence and clarity. The visual language was instantly recognisable. The branding was strong without being overwhelming. The whole experience felt immersive and intentional.
Most importantly, the design succeeded in translating a complex social mission into something people could physically experience.
Rather than simply telling visitors about circular fashion, community and inclusion, the space allowed them to feel those values around them.
That is incredibly difficult to achieve.
Great design is often invisible. It creates emotional connection before people consciously recognise what is happening. Carly Cook’s work accomplished exactly that, turning the store into more than a place to shop. It became a physical expression of the Give Your Best mission.
The evening itself was made even more meaningful by the presence of founder and CEO Sol Escobar.
Having been connected with Sol for several years, it was a genuine pleasure to finally meet her in person.
Some founders are impressive because of the scale of what they build. Others are impressive because of the clarity of their vision. Sol is both.
Her ability to identify a gap that so many people overlooked and then create an entirely new model to address it is remarkable. Under her leadership, Give Your Best has grown from a grassroots response to a social need into an award-winning organisation recognised nationally for its innovation and impact.
Yet what stands out most is that the mission has remained intact. At its heart, Give Your Best continues to centre people, not transactions. That approach has earned widespread recognition, including national innovation awards and recent acknowledgement through the prestigious Cambridge Social Innovation Prize, which celebrates leaders creating meaningful social change through enterprise.
The result is an organisation that is redefining what modern social enterprise can look like. And now Cambridge has the opportunity to be part of that story.
For anyone interested in sustainable fashion, ethical retail, circular economy solutions or simply the idea that commerce can be a force for good, this store is worth visiting.
The Give Your Best pop-up can be found in Grand Arcade, Cambridge, next to the John Lewis beauty entrance.
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