• easyJet announces new donation initiative, aiming to divert thousands of retired crew uniforms to support local charities across its network

  • The airline will initially focus on donating suitable items for school use

  • This follows a new study revealing that 58% of British households are feeling the pressure of the rising costs of school uniforms

  • The issue is particularly prevalent in Luton, home to easyJet’s headquarters, where almost 50% of children are estimated to be living in poverty

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  • To offer support, the airline will be launching the initiative with Luton-based charity the Level Trust, adding stock to the charity’s Uniform Exchange programme to ensure older year students living in the area have access to suitable school clothing

  • easyJet has made an initial donation in October to support the spike in demand the charity sees for school clothes at half term – with the initiative being rolled out on a larger scale to coincide with the airline’s crew uniform update in November

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28th October 2025 – easyJet has unveiled plans to donate thousands of retired crew uniforms in a bid to support British families struggling to deal with the rising cost of school clothing.

As part of a crew uniform update, the airline aims to recycle or donate 100% of retired garments from its old uniform, passing on many of items still fit for reuse to support a range of charities in the places closest to its operations.

This comes at a time when 58% of British households are struggling with the financial pressures of school uniforms, according to new research from the airline –with over a third of Brits (34%) having to sacrifice household essentials to make ends meet and nearly one in five (19%) using overdraft and credit cards to afford new school uniforms.

To show their support, easyJet will kickstart its donation drive in the home of the brand’s headquarters, Luton, partnering initially with local charity, Level Trust, to support the estimated 45% of children living in poverty in the area. 1

The Luton-based charity, which works across 75 Luton schools, provides pre-loved school clothes to local families via its Uniform Exchange programme. It will take a portion of easyJet’s uniforms to provide stock for older year students living in the area who are in need of new items, including shirts, skirts, blazer jackets and trousers. It also comes after research found 80% of Brits said they would like to see more businesses repurposing retired materials such as uniforms into items to support local communities.

Parents say they spend an average of £255 a year on school uniform items for just one child, totalling £3,072 in a lifetime. Within this, 53% of parents found they need to buy new/replacement uniform items even before the end of the first term, further increasing the financial pressures around this time.

As a result, easyJet will be making an initial donation to the charity for the October half term period to support the spike in demand the Level Trust sees at its Uniform Exchange over this period.

Following the completion of its uniform update in November, easyJet plans to roll out the initiative to other charities supporting a range of initiatives in Luton and London Gatwick later this year, with plans to extend across further UK bases and into Europe in 2026.

Michael Brown, Director of Cabin Services for easyJet, says, “We’re proud to launch our uniform recycling programme – our aim for this first phase is both to support parents who are facing financial hardships as well as reduce our textile waste. Our crew uniforms have always represented care, professionalism and unity, and we’re honoured that they’ll carry those same values into classrooms to empower the next generation.”

Jennie White from the charity the Level Trust, says “We have seen a significant rise in requests for school uniforms, highlighting the challenges many families are facing. easyJet's donation of surplus uniforms is a crucial step in addressing these needs as this initiative not only helps alleviate the financial strain on parents but also ensures that children have the necessary attire to feel confident and focused at school.”

Two-thirds of parents (66%) say they would consider second-hand or upcycled uniforms in order to save money and a further 93% of parents would also favour increased flexibility when it comes to school uniforms.

The research also found that 76% of British parents would like to see more government backed community initiatives like the Level Trust’s uniform exchange rolled out on a national scale.

The Level Trust aims to ensure that school, college and nursery-age children have everything they need to fully participate in their education. According to the charity’s latest report, 68% of families using their Uniform Exchange reported going without essentials and 55% were behind on their household bills.1

Uniforms donated by easyJet crew will be de-tagged, cleaned and sorted by local teams before being adapted to meet school uniform standards – with the aim of providing tens of thousands of items of clothing to be made available to parents via the Level Trust’s Uniform Exchange.

For further information, please contact the easyJet Press Office on 01582 525252 or log onto mediacentre.easyJet.com

Notes to Editors

Survey of 2,000 parents of school-aged children (4 – 16 year olds) commissioned by easyJet via 72 Point in October 2025.

1 https://www.luton2040.co.uk/priorities/child-friendly-town

About easyJet

easyJet is one of Europe’s largest airlines offering a unique and winning combination of the best route network connecting Europe's primary airports with great value fares and friendly service. easyJet flies on more of Europe’s most popular routes than any other airline and carried more than 100 million passengers in 2024. The airline has over 340 aircraft flying on over 1,000 routes to more than 160 airports across 35 countries. Over 300 million Europeans live within one hour's drive of an easyJet airport.

easyJet aims to be a good corporate citizen, employing people on local contracts in nine countries across Europe in full compliance with national laws and recognising their trade unions. The airline supports several local charities and has a corporate partnership with UNICEF which has raised over £17m for the most vulnerable children since it was established in 2012.

In 2022, easyJet published its roadmap to net zero by 2050. The roadmap, which also features a combination of fleet renewal, operational efficiencies, airspace modernisation, Sustainable Aviation Fuel and carbon removal technology, has set an ambitious interim carbon emissions intensity reduction target of 35% by 2035, validated by the Science-based targets initiative (SBTi). The airline’s ultimate aim is to fully transition its fleet to zero carbon emission technology, which it will achieve through a number of strategic partnerships including with Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace Solutions. Since 2000, the airline has successfully reduced its carbon emissions per passenger, per kilometre by one-third and is the number 1 ESG rated airline in Europe by Sustainalytics, MSCI and CDP.

Innovation is in easyJet’s DNA – since launching nearly 30 years ago, easyJet changed the way people fly to the present day where the airline leads the industry in digital and operational innovations to make travel more easy and affordable for its passengers. In 2023 easyJet was named by TIME as one of the World’s Best Companies and a Leader in Diversity 2024 by The Financial Times.