Towards the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, a number of social and environmental organisations in Flanders got together with the aim of creating jobs for disadvantaged people. They also had an ecological motivation, as they wanted to reuse household goods that would otherwise have been thrown away. Among the bulky waste that people left at their doorstep for collection and disposal, there were items that could be fixed and used again. This led to the creation of a series of second-hand shops that sold goods at very low prices. These shops put goods that were still in good condition or that had been fixed up back on the market. In these recycling centres, items that would have been thrown away were collected, sorted, checked, fixed up and sold. People who were unemployed helped to run these shops.

In just ten years, these second-hand shops have grown to 31 throughout the Flemish region. Despite their success, they had an image problem. The quality of the material on sale – clothing, bicycles, books, electrical equipment, multimedia products, household goods, antiques, sports goods, and so on – differed from shop to shop, and often the appearance of the shops was anything but attractive. Customers who were not particularly motivated did not feel enticed to cross the threshold.

So in 2001, sixty-six second-hand shops decided to join forces and create a common brand. Each shop committed to common rules and protocols to improve the quality of the products on sale and the shopping experience. The launch of the De Kringwinkel quality brand, thanks to a common strategy and shared values, has over the course of these two decades built trust and recognition among an ever-increasing number of customers, also thanks to national communication campaigns and a clearly recognisable corporate identity.

Today, De Kringwinkel is a network of 163 shops that make up a social and circular economy project that's well-known throughout Flanders and has a strong presence in local communities. In the De Kringwinkel shops, more than 80,000 tonnes of objects that would otherwise end up in landfill are prepared for reuse each year. This helps reduce CO2 emissions and the use of new raw materials.

The De Kringwinkel network employs more than 6,000 people, 85% of whom are people who, for various reasons, don't have many opportunities in the traditional labour market. Their salaries are paid through a combination of shop sales (more than 50 per cent) and subsidies from the Flemish government for social employment. Job opportunities are tailored to the needs of the individual and De Kringwinkel offers customised training and support to develop skills that can also be applied in the traditional labour market, if and when people are ready to enter it.

It's one of the largest social franchises in Europe, given its size. De Kringwinkel's second-hand shops are non-profit, and their main goal is to create job opportunities by reinvesting the proceeds from the sale of second-hand items in their employees, in improving the operations and in social objectives. De Kringwinkel is also part of Herw!n, a Flemish organisation for environmental and social entrepreneurship. Thanks to Herw!n, De Kringwinkel franchises can access a range of regional social employment programmes. Herw!n has also helped De Kringwinkel develop its brand, quality standards, shop format and marketing strategy.