Organ Donor Pop-Up Store in Cape Town

Give life, get fashion!

The Exchange, a couture fashion boutique that trades clothes and accessories for organ donor registration, opens at the Cavendish Square shopping centre in Cape Town for a limited run from Friday, 10 May 2013. The first of its kind, the store is fully stocked with wares from more than 25 of South Africa’s top designers, including Lunar, Catherine Moore, L&K, SilverSpoon and more. What makes this impromptu shop so unique is its cashless system: only by signing up in-store or online to be an organ donor can you “purchase” an item.

Brainchild of Ryan McManus, executive creative director at digital marketing agency NATIVE, and in association with the Organ Donor Foundation of South Africa, the pop-up shop started with nearly 1000 items and will only shut its doors and end its drive when all shirts, shoes, pants, necklaces, etc. have left the shelves.

“Fashion has typically been synonymous with consumerism. We were looking for a way in which we could change the currency of meaningless consumerism and shift it to the currency of life by purchasing fashion with organ donor registration,” explains MacManus.

It is said that a single organ donor can save seven lives and with over 700 pieces in the shop, the initiative hopes to potentially save 4 900 lives. Samantha Volschenk, executive director of the Organ Donor Foundation SA says, “It’s not often that we come across such a compelling piece of work that will undoubtedly make such a big impact on our organisation.”

For more information on how to participate and to register to become a donor visit Facebook.com/organdonorfan or call +27 (0) 800 22 66 11.

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