Gwangjin-gu, together with the Seoul Gwangjin Clothing Association — a local garment industry group led by Yang Seung-min — is launching the "2026 Clothing Donation with Love" project, which collects brand-new, unused garments and distributes them to vulnerable residents in the district.
Unlike conventional clothing drives that collect secondhand items, this initiative stands out because local garment workers are donating new clothes they have made themselves, applying their craft and care to each piece. The project channels the output of the district's garment industry directly into community welfare.
The Seoul Gwangjin Clothing Association — which operates the Seoul Gwangjin Clothing Manufacturing Center — signed an MOU with the Gwangjin Welfare Foundation last year and ran a pilot donation program with a group of garment workers. This year the effort expands significantly, with recruitment of individual garment workers and businesses open from Aug. 5 through Sept. 30.
Eligible items include unused, wearable garments such as jackets, jumpers, shirts, trousers, dresses, children's and youth clothing, and cold-weather wear. Soiled or damaged items are not accepted.
Collected garments will undergo a strict quality inspection by the Seoul Gwangjin Clothing Association before being delivered through the Gwangjin Welfare Foundation to low-income households, elderly people living alone, single-parent families, people with disabilities, and social welfare facilities across the district.
The district plans to use the project to bring together the individual acts of giving that garment workers have long practiced on their own, building them into a sustainable social contribution model in which the local garment industry and welfare organizations grow together.
"Gwangjin-gu is one of the country's foremost garment manufacturing hubs, with skilled small-business owners driving the local economy," district mayor Kim Kyung-ho said. "This donation goes beyond manufacturing — it is a meaningful initiative in which the garment industry takes on social responsibility alongside the community, and the district will actively support the stable growth and market expansion of our small-business owners."
The Seoul Gwangjin Clothing Manufacturing Center, operated by the Seoul Gwangjin Clothing Association, is located on the third floor of 174 Mongmok-ro in Jungok 3-dong. Since 2021, it has worked to strengthen the competitiveness of small-scale manufacturers, expand their market access, and carry out community-linked social contribution activities.
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