Salvation Army Trading Company Limited

What Salvation Army Trading Company Limited does

Salvation Army Trading Company Limited (SATCoL) is the wholly-owned UK trading subsidiary of The Salvation Army (registered charity nos. 214779 in England and Wales and SC009359 in Scotland), operating from its Wellingborough Support Centre in Northamptonshire and a major Kettering processing facility. Its core function is end-to-end textile reuse and recycling: collecting unwanted clothing, shoes, accessories and home textiles from UK consumers and corporate donors, then sorting, processing, and reselling or recycling them to fund charitable programmes. SATCoL operates nearly 9,000 clothing collection banks at retailers such as Tesco, Morrisons, One Stop and Aldi, plus over 240 charity shops, a free Donate-by-Post service, IT Reuse facilities for donated devices, and a Flooring Reuse Programme.

The platform is anchored by two proprietary technology assets: Fibersort, the UK's only automated textile sorting system, which uses an infra-red camera and air jets to identify and separate fibres such as cotton, polyester, wool, nylon, acrylic, viscose, and elastane (including Polycotton and Wool blends) by type, blend, percentage and colour; and Project Re:claim, a joint venture with Project Plan B operating the world's first commercial-scale post-consumer polyester recycling plant at Kettering, converting end-of-life polyester garments into pellets for re-spinning into yarn, with 2,500-tonne year-one capacity scaling to 5,000 tonnes in year two. IT devices are processed with Blancco-certified secure erasure and PAT testing before resale.

Commercially, SATCoL operates a hybrid B2B/B2C revenue model: consumer-facing donation and resale channels (charity shops, clothing banks, donate-by-post) are free to users with revenue generated on resale, while enterprise Take Back schemes with John Lewis, Dunelm, Cotton Traders, We Are We Wear and others, plus corporate donation contracts (e.g., Beko electricals, One Stop, Aldi) and event partnerships (e.g., London Marathon Events), drive both volume into the pipeline and supplementary transaction-related revenue. The customer mix spans UK individual donors (primary by volume), fashion and home-goods retailers (primary by partnership value), electronics donors, event organisers and educational institutions. In 2024 SATCoL presented a record £11.2m cheque to The Salvation Army, with cumulative donations exceeding £100m over the past twelve years, and has been recognised with multiple Drapers and Marie Claire sustainability/circularity awards.

Name

Salvation Army Trading Company Limited

Legal name

Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd

Website

https://satcol.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

SATCoL is the UK trading arm of The Salvation Army, operating nearly 9,000 textile collection banks, 250+ charity shops, and proprietary technologies (Fibersort, Project Re:claim) to collect, sort, and resell or recycle textiles, electronics, and other donated goods for charitable fundraising.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Textile Recycling and Reuse Services

NAICS

Textile Product Mills (314)

SIC

Textile Mill Products (2200), Apparel & Other Finishd Prods Of Fabrics & Similar Matl (2300)

akta.pro primary industry

Donation, Resale & Textile Recycling Coordination (HSAFABAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Textile & Apparel Sorting/Recovery Facilities (EUAIADAJ), Textile & Apparel Recycling and Sorting (Non-E-waste) (BPALADAL), Donation Pickup & Reuse Hauling (HSAKALAI)

Keywords

• Textile recycling services
• Charity retail operations
• Polyester recycling technology
• Used clothing collection
• IT reuse services

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellingborough

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Charity Retail: Resale of donated textiles and goods through 250+ charity shops across the UK. Higher grade textiles are sold in shops, generating revenue to support The Salvation Army's charitable work.
2. Corporate Partner Donations: SATCoL accepts excess, returned and end-of-line stock from corporate partners including fashion retailers and brands. Items are sorted, processed and resold with profits going to The Salvation Army.
3. IT Device Resale: Refurbishment and resale of donated computers, phones and tablets after secure data erasure. Devices are sold in charity shops or online.
4. Take Back Scheme Services: Partnership services where SATCoL collects and processes returned textiles from retail partners on behalf of their customers. Partners include John Lewis, Dunelm, Cotton Traders and others.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL) collects, sorts, recycles, and resells donated textiles and other goods through a UK-wide network of approximately 9,000 clothing collection banks, 250+ charity retail shops, donate-by-post service, and corporate partnership channels. It operates proprietary textile processing technology (Fibersort and Project Re:claim) and supports an IT device reuse programme, with proceeds funding The Salvation Army's charitable work.

Product overview

Salvation Army Trading Company Limited (SATCoL) operates a multi-channel reuse and recycling platform centred on textile collection, processing, and redistribution. The core portfolio consists of approximately 8,000–9,000 textile collection banks nationwide and over 240 charity retail shops, which together form the primary collection and resale infrastructure. Two proprietary technology platforms anchor SATCoL's advanced recycling capabilities: Fibersort, the UK's only automated textile sorting system that classifies non-wearable garments by fibre type, blend, and colour using infra-red vision for fibre-to-fibre recycling; and Project Re:Claim, the world's first commercial-scale post-consumer polyester recycling plant (a joint venture with Project Plan B) that converts end-of-life polyester into pellets for re-entry into the textiles supply chain. SATCoL also runs dedicated IT Reuse (reselling wiped laptops, phones, and tablets), a Flooring Reuse Programme, and Corporate Donation partnerships. The Take Back Scheme enables fashion and retail brands (including John Lewis, Dunelm, Cotton Traders, and We Are We Wear) to offer customers postal or in-store textile donation. Ancillary offerings include a Donate by Post service, SATCoL TV video content, Restyle Magazine, and The Sustainable Conversation podcast. These products collectively divert over 250 million items annually, processing around 62,000–65,000 tonnes of textiles per year, and raised over £100 million for The Salvation Army in the past twelve years.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fibersort: UK's only automated textile sorting system that identifies and sorts second-hand textiles by fibre type, blend, and colour using infrared technology for fibre-to-fibre recycling
• Project Re:claim

Products and services

• Textile Collection Banks SATCoL operates approximately 9,000 clothing and textile donation banks located across the UK at retail sites, supermarkets, and community locations, each holding up to 240 kilos of textiles including clothing, bags, and shoes for public donation.
• Charity Retail Shops Over 250 SATCoL charity shops and donation centres across the UK where higher-grade donated textiles, clothing, accessories and refurbished IT devices are resold to the public, with proceeds supporting The Salvation Army's charitable work.
• Fibersort Fibersort is SATCoL's automated textile sorting system, the UK's only automatic fibre-sorting technology, which uses an infra-red camera to identify and sort non-wearable textiles by fibre type, blend, percentage, and colour for fibre-to-fibre recycling back into the textile supply chain.
• Project Re:claim Project Re:claim is a joint venture between SATCoL and Project Plan B operating the world's first commercial-scale post-consumer polyester recycling plant at Kettering. It recycles end-of-life polyester garments into polyester pellets that can be spun into yarn, with 2,500 tonnes year-one capacity rising to 5,000 tonnes in year two.
• Take Back Scheme Service for fashion retailers and brands offering their customers a way to donate pre-loved textiles, with partners including John Lewis, Dunelm, Cotton Traders, We Are We Wear, HERA, Pretty Lavish, and others; items are processed by SATCoL for resale, reuse, or recycling.
• IT Reuse SATCoL collects donated laptops, PCs, phones, and tablets, performs secure data erasure using Blancco technology and P.A.T testing at its 25,000 sq ft processing centre, then resells the refurbished devices in charity shops to support community access to technology.
• Flooring Reuse Programme A reuse programme dedicated to diverting flooring materials from landfill by collecting, processing, and redistributing pre-loved flooring products.
• Corporate Donations SATCoL partners with businesses to accept excess, returned, and end-of-line stock of clothing, home goods, and small domestic appliances, with items collected by SATCoL drivers and delivered to the processing centre for sorting, PAT testing, and distribution.
• Donate by Post Free postal donation service allowing UK individuals to send pre-loved clothing, bric-a-brac, or home furnishings via prepaid bag for reuse or recycling by SATCoL.

Quantifiable outcome

• 62,000-65,000 tonnes of textiles processed annually
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

25 partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• Plan B CircularcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 July 2026Plan B Circular announces GRS Certification at Project Re:claim, marking breakthrough in polyester recycling technology validation.
• AldiminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 March 2025New charity partnership announced in 2025 supporting The Salvation Army's work with local communities nationwide.
• DunelmcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 July 2024Online textile takeback scheme for home textiles including bedding, cushions, throws and blankets. Items are separated into reusable and non-reusable categories and sent to SATCoL for resale or recycling. Part of ACT UK project for automated sorting.
• London Marathon EventscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 March 2024Collection of discarded participant clothing at major events including London Marathon, Brighton Marathon, Ford RideLondon. Clothing processed through Fibersort technology for resale or recycling.
• Source Home & GiftminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 9 February 2024Collaboration with Europe's leading sourcing show to showcase recycling technology and partnering opportunities for brands and retailers.
• We Are We WearcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 21 November 2023Inclusive fashion label Take Back scheme combining fibre recycling, secondhand clothing resale and charitable giving.
• Winchester School of ArtscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 September 2023Redesigning Fashion collaboration where students upcycle donated textiles into high fashion garments. Sustainable Conversation campaign extends partnership for industry engagement.
• BlanccocoreTechnology or Integration · 19 September 2023Technology partnership providing secure data erasure for IT devices. Blancco Drive Eraser for computers/hard drives and Blancco Mobile Diagnostics & Erasure for phones/tablets enables SATCoL to safely repurpose donated technology.
• Project Plan BflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 June 2023Joint venture creating Project Re:claim - world's first commercial-scale post-consumer polyester recycling plant. Project Plan B developed the exclusive recycling technology based on plastic bottle recycling, SATCoL provides infrastructure and scale.
• BekocoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 5 May 2023Corporate donor partnership for excess and returned electrical appliances. Products are PAT tested at SATCoL's 25,000 sq ft processing centre and resold in charity shops. Items that cannot be sold are returned to Beko for responsible recycling.
• Dancing LeopardminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 18 April 2023Sustainable fashion brand Take Back scheme in partnership with ReBound, offering customers option to send pre-loved items for recycling.
• SAMURAIminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 27 February 2023Stock donations to support fashion circular economy with message celebrating shared sustainable values.
• HERAcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 17 January 2023Online clothing bank partnership launching 17th January 2023, offering seamless donation opportunity for customers combined with charitable giving element.
• Cotton TraderscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 9 December 2022Take Back scheme allowing customers to return pre-loved clothes. Items that cannot be resold are given to The Salvation Army for resale, bypassing disposal.
• Pretty LavishcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 25 October 2022Second online fashion store to join Take Back scheme. Customers receive 10% discount code when donating pre-loved clothes.
• London Fashion WeekcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 10 October 2022SATCoL TV coverage and front row presence at London Fashion Week shows, showcasing sustainable fashion from donated textiles.
• John LewiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 September 2022FashionCycle partnership where John Lewis customers return pre-loved clothing for resale or recycling. Items are delivered to SATCoL's processing centre and those too damaged for resale are processed through Fibersort technology for fibre-to-fibre recycling.
• BenchminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 13 September 2022Corporate donations of over £15K worth of stock converted into funds for The Salvation Army.
• BBC Radio NorthamptonminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 27 July 2022Interview with Derek Goodwin on Fibresort technology and SATCoL's textiles revolution.
• Sunday TimesminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 17 July 2022Fibersort technology featured in The Sunday Times as ground-breaking sorting system for circular economy.
• Oh PollycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 4 May 2022Student sample sales with textile donation opportunities. Partnership with Bo+Tee sister brand enables combined reach of over 4.5 million social followers.
• Bo+TeeminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 4 May 2022Sister activewear brand partnership with Oh Polly for student sample sales and textile donations.
• MorrisonscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 4 April 2022Drop and Shop counters at Morrisons stores providing donation drop-off locations and community touchpoints for The Salvation Army.
• TescocoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2018Clothing bank locations at Tesco stores across the UK. Partnership supports Noah's Ark Children's Hospital with donations. In-store collections at select locations.
• One StopcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 September 201310-year partnership with 200+ clothing banks collecting 7,718 tonnes of textiles (30 million items). Partnership celebrates community focus and generates funds for The Salvation Army.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Biffa plc: Biffa is a major UK waste management company with recycling and materials recovery operations, including growing exposure to textile waste streams. It is a broad incumbent in the recycling space with overlapping capabilities in collection, sorting, and processing infrastructure.
• Veolia (Environmental Services UK): Veolia is one of the UK's largest waste and recycling management companies, with growing activity in textile waste streams. As a broad environmental services incumbent, it competes for municipal textile collection contracts and offers overlapping capabilities in materials recovery.

Emerging players

• Worn Again Technologies: Worn Again Technologies has developed a process to separate and recycle polyester and cellulose from blended textiles, including end-of-life clothing. It is a technology peer in the fibre-to-fibre recycling space, with similar targets to SATCoL's Project Re:claim.
• Re&Up (formerly Sanko/Recover): Re&Up operates commercial-scale textile recycling facilities producing recycled cotton and polyester fibres from post-consumer garments. It is an emerging player competing for the same fibre-to-fibre recycling market that Project Re:claim targets.
• Circ: Circ has developed a proprietary hydrothermal process to recycle polycotton blends back into virgin-quality cellulose and polyester. It targets the same fibre-to-fibre recycling opportunity that Project Re:claim addresses, positioning Circ as a technology peer in next-generation textile recycling.

Direct peers

• LMB (LMB Textiles Recycling): LMB is one of the UK's largest independent textile recyclers, operating clothing banks, sorting facilities, and export channels. As a private commercial operator (not charity-owned), it is a direct competitor for collection bank real estate and post-consumer textile processing volume.
• TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development): TRAID is a UK charity textile collector operating clothing banks and a textile sorting operation, reselling donated clothing to fund international development work. It competes with SATCoL for clothing bank locations and downstream resale/recycling volume.
• British Heart Foundation (BHF): BHF operates over 500 charity shops across the UK and is a major collector and reseller of donated clothing, homewares, and electricals. Its shop network and donation infrastructure directly compete with SATCoL for both donation volumes and second-hand consumer spend.
• Oxfam (Trading Activities): Oxfam operates one of the UK's largest charity retail networks and runs Wastesaver, a textile sorting and recycling facility in Huddersfield, processing donated clothing for resale and recycling. It is the closest direct competitor to SATCoL in UK charity-led textile collection, sorting, and resale.

Others

• Project Plan B: Project Plan B is SATCoL's joint venture partner in Project Re:claim, having developed the polyester recycling technology adapted from plastic-bottle recycling. Included as an ecosystem participant (technology co-developer) rather than a competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/salvation-army-trading-company

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Salvation Army Trading Company Limited