Life is difficult, but to varying degrees. While some may find simplifying their wardrobe daunting, for many of the world’s disabled, finding a sustainable, dignified job is much more challenging. Fortunately, China’s first online charity shop fixes both problems together.

Join us at FreshStart this Friday, March 23, as we invite Shujie Jiang, COO and partner of Buy 42 Charity Store, to discuss how Buy 42 tackles the problems of unemployment among the disabled and unwanted, wasted clothing in people’s homes.

Buy 42 merges the ideas of e-commerce and charities. It is operated by the Shanghai Development Center on Disability, and has developed a new business model in which people and organizations can donate their unused or rarely used items to be resold online. Its name, Buy 42, symbolizes the shops mission that customers can buy “for two;” both for themselves and to support the disabled.

In China, there are over 80 million people with disabilities, and all of the money made from Buy 42’s sales is used to fund a training center and training programs for them.

Last year, Buy 42 recycled about 290,000 items of clothing, with around 90 percent of their donations being from corporations and 10 percent from individual contributors.

We warmly welcome all to attend, listen, and ask questions.