A HOMELESSNESS charity in Bolton is launching a new arts and textiles shop later this month.

Great British Sewing Star, Damien, from Bolton, is set to open the Emmaus scrap store, located within Derby Barracks in Fletcher Street, on September 22.

Damien visited the textile centre ahead of the event to try out the charity’s impressive industrial sewing machine.

The shack’s official opening will be particularly poignant as it falls within National Recycling Week.

With recycling at the heart of the process, the charity will repurpose people’s old belongings into saleable items, to support the cause.

The fledgling scrap store will stock everything from zippers to buttons, to reusable fabrics, and will be a go-to retail space for local art groups, schools and Guides.

The arts and crafts items will be affordably priced, with all the proceeds going towards helping homeless people rebuild their lives.

Tony Stephenson, the director of Emmaus Bolton, first had the idea of repurposing and recycling clothing items while on a trip to Bougival before the pandemic.

He said: “The whole idea came to me whilst I was visiting communities in the area. Bougival recycles thousands of tonnes of textiles per year. That’s a lot of fabric.

“We waste very little at Emmaus. We collect over 1,000 tonnes every year. This saves the scrap fabric from ending up in landfill.”

Constantly looking to expand, Emmaus plans to make new items from unwanted materials in the future and sell them in the scrap shack.

Tony added: “We hope to make items such as tote bags and aprons. We eventually want to be able to make clothes by building more links with creative teams.”

The charity is constantly expanding and is committed to supporting former homeless people by providing them with work and housing.

The charity is always on the lookout for local volunteers to lend a hand at Emmaus Bolton.

For more details on all of the roles available, then either visit emmaus.org.uk/bolton/ online or contact Tony on 01204 398056.