TWO charities have teamed up to hand out underwear to the homeless on the streets of Glasgow.

New social impact business SmartyPants has donated more than a hundred pairs of underwear to the Kindness team, which they distributed together last Friday.

Set up in September, SmartyPants sells good-quality, eco-friendly underwear on a 'buy to donate' basis. They reached out to Kindness to support local homeless people.

Laura McSorley, founder of Kindness said: "We actually put out an appeal that day because we had no men's underwear left so this was really welcome from the gentlemen at SmartyPants.

"There is a large demand for clean underwear. There is a lack of washing facilities, even hotels, or temporary accommodations often don't have washing machines.

"Homeless people need to try to change and keep their personal hygiene up, so we absolutely need underwear, all the time."

Thanks to the donation, the Kindness street team handed out dozens and will be able to give out more than a hundred pairs of underwear to those who need it.

Even though the volunteers run a street team and a donation centre, the demand remains high for underwear.

SmartyPants co-founder Paul Johnston, who runs this business with co-founder Martin Burns said: "When people go to donate clothing, they donate t-shirts, shirts, jumpers, jeans, jackets but obviously, you can't give and charities can't accept underwear for hygiene purposes.

"We've done some research into the need for underwear for the homeless population.

"So, we discovered there was a need and there was nobody else doing this."

Since September, they have been donating a pair of underwear after each one purchased and the response has been overwhelming.

SmartyPants also plans to expand the business to women's underwear, t-shirts and toothbrushes soon.

If you would like to donate to Kindness, email kindnessglasgow@yahoo.com.

If you would like to buy and donate from SmartyPants, visit www.thesmartypants.co.uk.