The Royal Opera House and Suited & Booted are delighted to announce a new partnership to drive the sustainable reuse of materials and support vulnerable men in London.
Following the Royal Opera House’s Open Up project in 2018, the Royal Opera House costume department uncovered over 2,000 front of house staff uniforms in storage, no longer needed or in use. Members of the ROH costume department wanted to give the uniforms a new lease of life, and approached support services charity Suited & Booted to see if they could be repurposed as interview clothing for vulnerable and unemployed men looking to get back into the workforce.
Suited & Booted received 1,929 items from the Royal Opera House – including jackets, trousers, waistcoats, T-shirts and shirts. Giving these clothes a new lease of life not only provides essential new clothing for vulnerable, unemployed and low-income men requiring support to move their lives forward, but also saves 17 tonnes of CO2E – the equivalent of 17 hot air balloons – from being released into the atmosphere, had the uniforms gone to landfill.
Maria Lenn, Chief Executive of Suited & Booted, said: ‘The partnership with the Royal Opera House has enabled many of our service users to gain confidence and move on to the next positive phase of their lives. Many of these men have chaotic lives, with addiction, prison and homelessness as their core experiences. The service we provide at Suited & Booted boosts confidence and can change lives. The fantastic range of suits from the Royal Opera House is helping many clients as they move on with their lives to becoming job and interview ready.’
The Royal Opera House and Suited & Booted’s partnership has supported vulnerable men on the next stage of their employment journey and moved the Royal Opera House closer to its sustainability commitment, set in 2021, to reach net zero emissions by 2035. The aim is to reach targets by an earlier date – 2030 – where possible.
Alex Beard, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, said: ‘I’m hugely proud of our partnership with Suited & Booted. It enables us both to support the vulnerable and those in need, and to improve our sustainability. Project by project, department by department across the ROH, we are working to reduce our impact on the environment and drive forward sustainable change.’
