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thredUP, one of the world’s largest online resale platforms, and premium denim brand, Madewell, announce the launch of a ‘Circular Store’ entirely stocked with secondhand clothes.
This unique physical shopping experience in Williamsburg, Brooklyn offers a glimpse into how clothing reuse can shift our collective mindset to fight fashion waste and power a more circular future. The store is designed to educate consumers on the power of making clothes to last and why keeping them is important.
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The store is a limited edition extension of the online Madewell Forever denim resale experience that launched in July and marks the first time customers can shop a full assortment of preloved Madewell, mend and tailor clothes, and pass them on responsibly—all in one place.
“For too long, the fashion industry has operated with a linear, disposable model. We’ve designed a store to represent the future of fashion— a circular future in which retailers design for longevity, and consumers shop with resale in mind. Our hope is that visitors will leave inspired and armed with the knowledge they need to take a more sustainable approach to their wardrobes. We believe that retail and resale working together is a necessary next step in achieving our vision of a circular future for fashion,” Erin Wallace, VP of Integrated Marketing at thredUP.
This continuation of thredUP and Madewell’s ongoing partnership offers a glimpse into what a more circular future for fashion could look like if we all reused more and discarded less.
The fashion industry is on track to consume 26% of the world’s carbon budget by 2050, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
To meaningfully reduce the impact of fashion on the planet, thredUP and Madewell believe that the future of fashion must shift from a linear model to a more circular one.
Together, they’re demonstrating how we can change the way we buy, wear and care for our clothes to fight fashion waste, building a model of what the future of fashion can look like for consumers and other retailers to follow.
“The fashion industry wasn't built with sustainability in mind, but with the future of our planet at stake, we collectively must do better. At Madewell, we make quality products designed for longevity and are doubling down on solutions that keep clothing in circulation as long as possible and reduce apparel waste. We are thrilled to partner with thredUP to unveil this store concept to take the first steps toward creating a blueprint for other retailers to follow as they integrate circularity into their business model. We’re honored to continue working hand in hand with thredUP to help the fashion industry make strides towards circularity,” Liz Hershfield, SVP, Head of Sustainability at Madewell.
This store is designed to challenge the definition of a traditional retail store, aimed at extending the life cycle of clothing.
1. 100% secondhand Madewell clothes sourced from thredUP. Every time you shop used instead of new, you reduce carbon emissions by 82%, according to thredUP’s 2021 Resale Report and research from Green Story Inc. This is the first-ever store filled entirely with hundreds of preloved Madewell styles from thredUP, with prices ranging from $10-40.
2. Education is at the forefront. A shocking 36 billion apparel items end up in landfills every year. As customers visit each of the three shoppable stations in the store, they learn about three steps that will bring us closer to a circular future for fashion.
3. In-store mending station. Repairing one item of clothing a season saves 19lbs of carbon annually.
4. Cleanout to close the loop. 95% of the clothing thrown away in the U.S. annually could be recycled or reused. To date, thredUP has processed over 125M articles of clothing, displacing an estimated 2.2B lbs of C02. That's the equivalent of 117K flights around the world.
5. Circular packaging. Reused is the new reusable. An organic cotton bag should be reused 150 times based on its environmental production cost, according to a 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark.
6. Digital and physical integration. QR codes at each station offer a deeper dive into how to buy, wear, care for, and pass on your clothes for the planet.
7. Programming that speaks to the future of fashion. The shop will be home to educational programming with local designers and sustainable brands, including upcycling and repair workshops with Patagonia's Worn Wear team.
Do good, feel good, and look good!
Photography by: Courtesy Small Girls PR
