The second Birmingham Suit Amnesty has been declared a great success, with more than 400 suits collected for local charities.

While numbers are a little down on last year’s inaugural event, organisers say the quality of Friday's donations at Birmingham Town Hall has been even better.

“It’s been a great day,” said Graham Nicoll, co-organiser of the amnesty. “We’re really pleased, it’s been a lot more interactive than last year, when we didn’t get many walk-ins.

“Last year on the day we collected around 700 suits, but probably a good 30 per cent was rag, whereas today there is no rag, so it won’t be far off from last year’s figure, which is very surprising. All week we’ve been thinking that it would be successful but not as big a number as last year, for the very simple reason that in the first year people cleared out their wardrobes.”

All suits collected will go to local charities such as St Basil’s and Turning Point, who will give them to people looking for a fresh start in life, a suit for that all-important interview.

Mr Nicoll, regional head for Barclays Wealth, created the idea of the amnesty last year with Fidelis Hynam, a fund-raiser at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, at the Thrive forum, a corporate social responsibility network for local companies.

Friday's drop-in day saw more than 20 companies, including Wesleyan, Deloitte and Pinsent Masons, donate men’s and women’s suits. Another 50-60 are expected to be collected next week.

Marks & Spencer, Harvey Nichols and Mailwash dry cleaners have also been involved in this year’s amnesty, the latter cleaning suits free of charge.

For more information on the amnesty, call Graham Nicoll on 07775 554215.