The Salvation Army, a worldwide church and registered charity in 127 countries, operates a network of over 200 second-hand stores and 20.000 donation banks to extend a helping hand to those that are homeless, friendless and in need. On top of that, they strive to provide as many opportunities as possible to reuse and recycle to help lessen our impact on overflowing landfill sites. The Salvation Army receives 34.000 tons of donated clothing each year. However, very few are sold. Especially at Christmas.  The brief was to create awareness of the Salvation Army and increase sales of the Salvation Army second-hand clothes in Prague during Christmas.   Budget was zero. All the agreements needed to be pro bono.

To raise money to support those in need, The Salvation Army set up a unique wrapping service in busy shopping malls and wrapped people’s Christmas gifts using second-hand clothes. Beautifully.    Christmas is the most giving season, when people are most welcoming to the idea of donating to charity. However, it’s the most wasteful season as well. Each Christmas citizens of the Czech Republic waste 35 000 miles of wrapping paper. But in Japan people use Furoshiki, an eco-friendly wrapping cloth that has been used for wrapping gifts for centuries. This inspired the Salvation Army so they went where people do their Christmas shopping and targeted all the shoppers turning the Christmas craze to helping both people – and the planet.

The pop-up build consisted of two core elements:   The pop-up wrapping service / Made of used pallets to reinforce the eco-friendliness of the salvation paper, the unique wrapping service was an 8-square meter pop-up set up in a busy shopping mall: it had two trained ‘wrappers’, a rack with second hand clothing for people to choose from, and a display with wrapped samples. The wrap / To make sure each gift wrap looked beautiful regardless of its size or shape, The Salvation Army pre-selected a large variety of second-hand items made of soft colourful fabrics and beautiful patterns, with a vintage feel. 

The world’s most eco-friendly gift wrap increased sales by 600% In a mall with over 60 000 people daily doing Christmas shopping, every 2 minute a new gift was wrapped. Instead of wasting paper on wrapping presents, people had their presents wrapped with second hand clothes and help people in need. The world’s most eco-friendly gift wrap showcased how to efficiently apply the eco-friendly wisdom from the East into the wasteful Western society – and supported the image of Salvation Army as of organization that cares about both people and the planet. So, next Christmas the Salvation Army plans to repeat this initiative in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Netherlands – with the aim to make Salvation Paper their Xmas tradition glob