Knickers for Africa

Lingerie company Hot Milk is running a month long, nationwide drive asking its stockists and customers to donate their unwanted bras to women in Zimbabwe.

Hot Milk joined the Knickers for Africa project last year in collaboration with Zimbabwean-Australian Morag Roy. Roy began the project in Australia, after discovering that wearing underwear gave Zimbabwean women prestige, making them less likely to be sexually assaulted.

With the New Zealand company’s involvement, donations are now coming in from around the country and even the UK. Hot Milk has itself donated more than 6,500 pairs of brand new underwear and is asking stockists to collect unwanted bras.

Avokado, on Newmarket’s Nuffield Street, is one of 23 locations around New Zealand asking women to donate bras during May for the “Knickers for Africa” project. Avokado owner Claire Long not only agreed to collect bras for the project, but also emailed all the customers on her mailing list and posted advertisements on the company blog.

She says: “We enjoy [Hot Milk’s] products so for us it’s really important to support them.” The response has been fantastic she says, not only from regulars, but also from new customers who heard about it on the website or through friends. “A few people bring three or four bras in but most come with bags of around 15. Some people come with a huge bunch they've collected off everyone they know,” she says.

Shevaun Lomas was one of the customers who received Avokado’s email. It caught her attention and inspired her to get involved. “I thought it sounded really interesting. It was just such a simple idea and just amazing that something as small as a bra can help stop sexual abuse.”

She collected around 12 of her own bras and seven off other friends and family. “No one I told had heard about it but everyone was really excited. I got another friend involved and she collected bras from her family and friends. “It was so amazing. I went to take them in and three other people who had huge bags full of bras came in at the same time as me.”

Lomas says the project is something she would definitely like to continue to help. “It would be great if they did it for more than one month.”

Long says Avokado would like to continue collecting bras after this month and it may establish a permanent bra bank.

Hot Milk’s regular freight company, Express Logistics, will cover all the costs of shipping the underwear collected in May to Zimbabwe.

Amanda Haxton, May 2009

Pictured above: Lou Harris (left) and Claire Long
Contact details:
Shevaun Lomas 09 6389616, shevaunlomas@hotmail.com
Claire Long 09 5207869, Claire@avokado.co.nz