About the network
Circle Economy and Fashion for Good have joined forces to drive the formation of a powerful global Switching Gear Enabling Network of over 50 circular innovators, frontrunning brands and relevant experts, in the next 2.5 years. The network is carefully curated to include relevant stakeholders that are needed to scale rental and recommerce business models in the apparel industry.
The purpose of this network is to support the Switching Gear project pilots and accelerate the uptake of recommerce and rental business models in the wider apparel industry. Members of the network are united in their aim to reduce the overall impact of the apparel industry by shifting to new commercially feasible consumption models that optimise the active service life of garments / products.
Core objectives
Build Knowledge: Share the learnings and insights from experience gained;
Establish Networks: Connect brands with circular solution providers and innovators;
Create Exposure: Elevate the topic of rental and recommerce to the global industry agenda.
ACS
Solution Provider
Switching gear focus
Rental and Recommerce
Headquarters
Glasgow, UK
Active markets
UK and Europe
website
https://www.acsclothing.co.uk/
about
ACS is Europe’s largest rental and resale fashion fulfilment centre, based in the UK. The innovative turnkey solution ACS provide enables brands to introduce a rental or resale fashion offering into their business model quickly and seamlessly. ACS take care of all warehousing, order management, RFID integration, advanced eco-friendly cleaning and sanitisation, clothing repairs, picking, packing and dispatch. As a result, brand partners of ACS can focus on growing their brand, safe in the knowledge that our processes are ethical, sustainable and robust. ACS have achieved zero waste to landfill and are working towards becoming net-zero by the end of 2023.
What they bring to the table
ACS operate from state-of-the-art purpose-built facility complete with innovative technology, onsite engineers and textile care specialists. They have c. 25 years of experience in the rental and resale space and dispatch over 3million items each year. A circular rental and resale business model allows retailers to enhance profitability, embrace sustainability and embed circular practice within a linear business model. Moreover, ACS are ahead of the curve in the drive towards net-zero and their mission for sustainability is embedded throughout their business processes.
We are delighted to be a part of this network and drive positive change in the industry alongside like-minded businesses.
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reverse.supply
Solution Provider
Switching gear focus
Rental and Recommerce
Headquarters
Berlin
Active markets
EU
website
https://www.reverse.supply/
about
With reverse.supply, brands can easily participate in the growing resale/secondhand movement, become more sustainable and improve customer loyalty, by engaging with customers beyond the initial sale of an item. Reverse.supply takes care of the heavy lifting in the back, providing the technical infrastructure and handling all the operational work.
What they bring to the table
We enable brands to own the resale of their products through a white-label resale platform that seamlessly integrates into the checkout processes and customer experience of their sales channels.
To prepare for the future, Fashion needs to start the transition from take-make-waste towards more sustainable, circular business models today. We’re excited to team up with other industry players and support brands on this journey together.
Zoa
Solution Provider
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Newcastle, UK
Active markets
UK, expanding to EU, US and Asia from 2022
website
https://www.zoarental.com/
about
Zoa is the UK's first white label fashion rental technology. Zoa's mission is to facilitate better sharing by lowering barriers to circular business models. Their service takes care of all the tech, operations, dry cleaning and customer service to power retailer's own brand rental platform - effectively a Shopify for sharing.
What they bring to the table
As experts in the rental space we can offer consultancy on how brands can launch their rental offering, using our white label technology Zoa & fulfilment partner ACS. If brands aren't ready to launch their own rental offer, we can work with them to launch rental as part of a consignment offer under the Hirestreet brand (for suitable brands only).
To align with the 1.5 degree pathway, 1 in 5 garments need to be traded via circular models by 2030. This will only happen if we lower the barriers for retailers & startups looking to join the #RentalRevolution
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LENA the fashion library
Solution Provider
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Amsterdam, NL
Active markets
Netherlands
website
https://www.lena-library.com/
about
Lena the fashion library is an online rental platform with a flagship store in Amsterdam offering a flexible pay-as-you-borrow system with monthly payments. Customers only pay for the days they borrowed clothes based on a point system. Orders can be picked up and dropped off at several partner locations or via mail.
What they bring to the table
"We offer the perfect place and community to experiment and test if a borrowing system is interesting for your business in the future. Let's collaborate!" - Elisa Jansen
lululemon athletica
Exploring Brand
Switching gear focus
Rental and Recommerce
Headquarters
Vancouver, CA
Active markets
North America, Europe, Middle-East, Asia, Australia
website
http://www.lululemon.com
about
lululemon athletica is a technical athletic apparel company for yoga, running, training and most other sweaty pursuits.
What they bring to the table
“We’re in the early stages of a transformation toward a circular ecosystem. Circularity inspires a whole new way of creating and accessing products—away from a linear approach and toward a creative and regenerative model that engages guests and keeps products in use as long as possible. We know this is a challenging space that requires collaboration and innovation but with our business model, we’re uniquely positioned to create positive change.”
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Asics Group
Exploring Brand
Switching gear focus
Rental and Recommerce
Headquarters
Japan
Active markets
International
website
https://www.asics.com
about
Asics is a Japanese multinational which produces sports equipment and sportswear designed for a wide range of activities.
What they bring to the table
To reduce the environmental impact of our products and manufacturing processes, we seek to integrate sustainability as basic principle in their design. We also address the impact of our own operations, our supplier operations and how we get our products to points of sale.
Tersus Solutions
Solution Provider
Switching gear focus
Rental and Recommerce
Headquarters
Denver, United States
Active markets
North America, China, South Korea. Expanding to the UK and EU.
website
http://www.tersussolutions.com
about
Leaders in textile recommerce, rental and warranty cleaning and repair services utilizing industry leading recycled LC02 technology. Tersus drastically lowers the carbon footprint and negative environmental impact of textile cleaning and repair for its customers such as Patagonia, REI, The North Face and Canada Goose.
What they bring to the table
Our desire is to be an integral part of the sustainability movement by enabling brands to successfully launch recommerce and rental programs in order to lower the environmental impact of textile processing. For recommerce and rental business models, we can provide turnkey services such as the necessary sorting, C02 cleaning, repair, upcycle and logistical support.
The biggest challenge we see is the ability to launch a recommerce and/or rental program in a way that actually lowers the environmental impact of such offerings. For example, it is pertinent that the garment not travel to three different locations for repair, cleaning, and sorting before it is actually made available for resale or rental. We accomplish this in the US by having all services performed under one roof.
Mini-Cycle
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Montreal, Canada
Active markets
Canada, United States
website
https://mini-cycle.com/
about
Mini-Cycle specializes in circular economy for kids’ fashion. It offers new and preloved clothes for 0 to 10 years olds and guarantees to buy back everything once the kids outgrow their clothes. All new clothes sold on the platform are chosen for their durability, so that they can come back to Mini-Cycle as many times as possible. The goal is for each piece to come back at least 4-5 times in order to cancel out its ecological footprint.
What they bring to the table
Mini-Cycle will offer valuable insight as to how to process and resell preloved pieces. They have been doing it for 2 years and have a good understanding as to what it takes to be able to resell items online. Mini-Cycle have spent a lot of time and energy identifying the pain points and valuable strategies - key inputs needed to make a recommerce model viable economically from a practical and operational standpoint.
For Mini-Cycle a big benefit is to make sustainable fashion more accessible to all since locally made, natural and organic fibres are more expensive to purchase. Offering these pieces on a second hand platform helps to democratize sustainable fashion.
BYBROWN
Exploring Brand
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
NL
Active markets
Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden
website
https://bybrown.nl/
about
At BYBROWN we define the meaning of premium rainwear, offering rainwear made with technical design in mind, we are redefining the way rainwear looks and the way we use it.
What they bring to the table
Our brand is ready for the next step in sustainability. We have been improving our sustainability efforts, using recycled materials and doing a slow, timeless core-product collection. We feel that it's time now to even further evolve and truly address the overarching problem of ''unsustainable consumption behaviour''. After improving our product quality, durability and sustainability for over 5 years, we realised that our product actually lends itself perfectly for a rental model. The brand evolvement of BYBROWN in combination with the EU has helped us ignite and kick-start the development of this business case, whilst discovering a potential durable revenue stream, helping our brand to ground financially furthermore.
SGEN opens up a network of social entrepreneurs, which can help us solidify our ambitions and inspire us to think critically, joining forces in setting-up social business to sustain life on earth.
Nine & Co
Exploring Brand
Switching gear focus
Rental and Recommerce
Headquarters
Netherlands
Active markets
Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
website
https://www.nineandco.com/
about
Nine & Co. is the parent company of several brands: Noppies, Supermom, Esprit for mums and Alvi. All these individual brands have one thing in common, they are experts in pregnancy, babies and children up to six years old.
What they bring to the table
We want to contribute to a healthy world. That is why we not only pay attention to design, but also to production processes that are as sustainable as possible, good working conditions in our supply chain and positive relationships with our producers. We also look at the materials of our items and their impact on the environment and the consumer.
Reskinned
Solution Provider
about
Reskinned collaborates with brands to offer clothing buy-back technology that enables customers to trade in clothes. A simple-to-understand and easy-to-implement take-back scheme offers customers the opportunity to trade in garments for a fixed credit value.
What they bring to the table
Reskinned controls all elements of the process – including the tech, sort and final redistribution channels. Their end-to-end approach enables Reskinned to provide full clarity to brands on where their central stock and customer returns find a new home.
We want to maximise the life of clothing and footwear by creating a circular economy model that incentivises owners to trade in unloved garments with a simple, hassle-free take-back process.
CaaStle
Solution Provider
about
CaaStle is a fully managed service that allows retailers to offer Clothing as a Service (CaaS) to their consumers. CaaS is a proven access model with transformative benefits for retailers and consumers. On one side, consumers will have the opportunity to experiment more deeply with retailers not only by owning garments but by accessing a rotating collection each month while on the other side, retailers can build a more profitable and valuable business with new customers and increase the total brand spend from existing customers.
What they bring to the table
Revolutionise retail with subscription-based unlimited rental model, a win win proposition for both Consumers and Retailer Brands, fundamentally altering Consumers's relationship with brands by enabling access to great products and variety in a budget friendly manner with ease of anytime doorstep delivery.- Ankita Sinha, Program Manager
Boomerang Recommerce
Solution Provider
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
California, US
Active markets
US, aim to expand to Europe
website
https://www.boomerang.fashion/
about
Boomerang empowers fashion brands to drive revenue from previously purchased products and own the entire second hand experience with their customers, while taking part in the circular economy. They provide a white label secondhand interface under which customers can resell and shop pre-worn items in the brand environment. Behind the scenes, they collect, store and resell items via the secondhand store interface- fashion brands only have to handle the marketing side.
What they bring to the table
''We want to make fashion cleaner, one step at a time, while involving brands in order to make them regain what is theirs.'' - Paul Laverne, Co-founder
Sharedrobes
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Dublin, Ireland
Active markets
Ireland, aims to expand into NL
website
https://www.sharedrobes.com
about
Sharedrobes is an online peer-to-peer clothing rental marketplace for occasion clothes. They are also partnering with dry cleaners, garment alteration shops, shoe repair shops and professional photographers so that Sharedrobes members can make use of their services at a discount price.
What they bring to the table
''Joining the network is joining forces with like-minded people, entrepreneurs, businesses, organisations and brands with one common purpose: reduce the impact of fashion on our planet’s health and leave it better than we found it!''- Carlos Rohrer, Co-founder
Better World Fashion
Frontrunning Brand
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Denmark
Active markets
Europe
website
https://www.betterworldfashion.com/en/
about
Better World Fashion is a circular fashion brand. They primarily produce leather goods (jackets and bags) from 100% post-consumer recycled leather, plastics and metals. Their products can be bought or leased. At end-of-life, they take back their items and upcycle them into new products.
What they bring to the table
"Being a circular economy pioneer, we offer knowledge and a platform to other brands that are motivated by the power of good and wants to offer sustainable and circular leather goods." -Ivang Reimer, CEO and Founder
Hogeschool van Amsterdam
Expert
about
The Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences (HvA), or Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, is a large institute for higher professional education in the Netherlands, established in 1993. Their interest in Switching Gear is related to the Collaborative Networks for Sustainability (CONESU) research project which explores the Role of Network Orchestrators in the Dutch apparel industry. They are seeking to find how to create valuable networks and maintain their survival.
What they bring to the table
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
Expert
about
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global network of firms delivering world-class assurance, tax, and consulting services. Read more about their consulting work with regard to the circular economy here. PwC is supporting the Switching Gear project as part of their corporate responsibility program, and will be providing participating core brands (ASKET, Lindex & ETP) with help in developing a business case for their rental and recommerce pilots.
What they bring to the table
Avery Dennison
Expert
Switching gear focus
Headquarters
Glendale, California
Active markets
global
website
https://www.averydennison.com/en/home.html
about
Avery Dennison provides technological solutions to support brands in their journey towards circularity. AD products such as Janela provide unique garment identification, through QR codes on labels or scannable smart embellishments, allowing brands to interact with customers returning the garment for reuse or recycling. AD also provides recycled care labels and woven embellishments certified through the Global Recycling Standard which can, as well as many of their other materials, be recycled with the garments. AD Trace, utilizing Blockchain Technology, securely records the history of critical supply chain steps with a unique digital identity providing traceability that can be extended to include recycling or the second life of garments.
What they bring to the table
Remix Second Hand
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Sofia, Bulgaria
Active markets
Europe
website
https://remixshop.com/bg/
about
Remixshop.com is a circular economy e-tailer selling second hand and outlet fashion on 9 markets in the EU. Their logistics center in Sofia take care of the variety of product selection, the exact description of each item and the delivery. Shopping at Remix is like a game - prices drop by -5% a day at exactly 4:00 pm and the discount accumulates to -75%. Their portfolio includes more than 5,000 brands in three price segments - Luxury, Mid Range and Budget. Customers can also sell their clothing through the "Sell on Remix" service.
What they bring to the table
"We are committed to developing the circular economy and the network goals and ambitions coincide with Remixshop.com's ones." -Genoveva Petrova, Executive Director
Upchoose
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
San Francisco, US
Active markets
US
website
https://www.upchoose.com/
about
UpChoose are a smart baby clothing service: they provide high quality organic outfits at lower cost, through a circular platform that enables resale and rental. Customers can either buy (with the option to sell back after use) or rent the sets. They create pre-loved sets through this customer take back scheme, and also accept other second hand clothes from non-customers- as long as they meet their criteria.
What they bring to the table
Upchoose is operating a mix of circular models including a rental model and a secondhand platform, hence have first hand experience of these different models.
"Our consumption model is broken. We can imagine and build a new one that works better for our health and our planet. We need to redesign our behaviors: Why and how we consume." -Ali El Idrissi, CEO and Founder
SKFK
Frontrunning Brand
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Spain
Active markets
Europe
website
https://www.skfk-ethical-fashion.com/en
about
SKFK are a sustainability-focused Spanish women’s apparel brand. In May of 2019, SKFK launched their Circular Closet, a monthly rental subscription service, in collaboration with Lizee. Their customers are able to rent an outfit (3 pieces) once for one month, or to receive an outfit every month for 3 months for a lower price. They handle cleaning of the garments both before and after rental in-house.
What they bring to the table
Sharealook
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Switzerland
Active markets
Switzerland, Germany
website
https://sharealook.com/
about
SHAREaLOOK is a platform that facilitates B2C, C2C and B2B matchmaking and support of users in order to rent and re-sell fashion. Currently, SHAREaLOOK consists of two units, a C2C rental platform which serves to show brands the growing interest in rental. The second unit is services which enable brands to become circular, this includes IT, Communication and Data (material, use...). They are developing a third unit: a B2B plug-in app for online shops which will enable brands to rent instead of sell their collection.
What they bring to the table
SHAREaLOOK is developing Software as a Service technology for rental fashion, with a launch scheduled in July 2020. Through the technology and infrastructure, apparel brands can start renting their collection instead of selling, reducing this way the use of nature resources, energy and water. Through providing technology, infrastructure and community, SHAREaLOOK will be able to help any sustainable brand and service to scale their business and make the fashion system more fair and sustainable.
"Networking is the key to changing the current fashion system into a circular one. SHAREaLOOK is all about collaboration and not competition and for that reason, joining the Switching Gear Enabling Network is important for us." -Natalia Marassi, Co-founder
Sellhound
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Santa Cruz, California
Active markets
US, expanding to UK, Canada
website
https://www.sellhound.com/
about
SellHound is a mission-driven startup focused on extending the life-cycle of stuff and enhancing the circular economy by building a scalable system that automates the creation of highly optimized listings of secondhand items to sell across marketplaces- all from a few photos. They are not a marketplace, but work on behalf of secondhand marketplaces like eBay while acting as a virtual assistant to the user - making the resale process easier.
What they bring to the table
"We're interested in contributing to a program that aims to make global systemic change in the fashion sector both for our own scaling benefit, but also our fellow network solution providers and for the circular fashion industry overall." -Deborah Lindsey, Director of Operations and Sustainability
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RE-NT
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Berlin, Germany
Active markets
Germany, Austria
website
https://www.re-nt.com/
about
RE-NT is a tech driven rental platform, which connects fashion brands with end-users in order to experience fashion in a full circular way. RE-NT offers women’s and special occasion wear. The rental period can be determined by the customer, and can be returned or swapped in case of wrong fit. The rental period can be extended and there is a possibility of buying the rented item.
What they bring to the table
RE-NT can help brands by 1) using their platform to test products, 2) offering their software solution as a white label solution, 3) support in consultancy.
"Our mission is to transform the fashion industry into a full closing-the-loop model. RE-NT. RE-DUCE. RE-CYCLE. RE-DESIGN." -Robina von Stein, Founder/ CEO
about
Kerli Hvass is a circular economy advisor, researcher and entrepreneur. Her PhD provides new insights on why and how the fashion industry can innovate their business models and collaborate with second- hand and recycling industries in order to prolong the life of clothes, minimize textile waste and establish a circular economy of textiles.
What they bring to the table
Nudie Jeans
Frontrunning Brand
Switching gear focus
Headquarters
Gothenburg, Sweden
Active markets
Europe, North America, Australia, South and East Asia. Currently expanding in already existing markets.
website
https://www.nudiejeans.com/
about
Nudie Jeans is a denim company founded in 2001. By taking responsibility in every step of the value chain, all the way from fiber to final product and the consumer phase, Nudie Jeans produce high quality garments made in a fair way. Thanks to the Repair and Reuse program they close the loop and offer a smarter way to consume with clear incentives to engage with their customers.
What they bring to the table
Nudie Jeans has, for approximately ten years, been working with free repair service and also a take back scheme which has made way for recommerce and other circular initiatives. Although these projects are still relatively small, it's been a process of development. These experiences, among others, are valuable to other brands who are looking to make similar investments.
"Nudie Jeans wish to join as network members of Switching Gear, to share our knowledge and experiences, as well as to learn from others and jointly push the circularity movement forward and speed up the processes." -Kevin Gelsi, Sustainability Coordinator
Hulaaloop
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Active markets
Netherlands
website
https://www.hulaaloop.com/
about
Hulaaloop is a clothes rental subscription service for kids up to 2 years. In the future the subscription will not be limited to kids clothes only, but also focus on a subscription service for baby and kids products. Our vision is to support parents and to help brands to make the step towards a circular economy.
What they bring to the table
thelittleloop
Innovator
about
Thelittleloop are the UK's first rental marketplace for kids. They enable traditional retail brands to introduce rental to customers via their online marketplace. Brands provide them with inventory and in return receive a percentage of rental revenue, data about consumer engagement with their clothing, and direct experience of a circular business model without any significant logistical or operational overheads.
What they bring to the table
Thelittleloop are already working with three major UK based children's clothing brands to enable them to bring rental to consumers via their marketplace. They handle all operations, logistics, marketing etc as well as providing the rental tech platform. And, by acting as an aggregator for multiple brands in one place, they make rental more feasible and appealing for customers and, by extension, for the brands themselves. Consumer research has shown that few consumers are looking to hold multiple, single brand subscriptions...rather they would prefer 1, multi brand subscription to meet all their needs. Thelittleloop address this problem and are open to collaboration with our core brands.
"We believe circular business models will achieve maximum impact not by creating a parallel sustainable apparel industry, but by transforming the existing one. We want to contribute to the SGEN to make that vision a reality." -Charlotte Morle, Founder
Houdini Sportswear
Frontrunning Brand
Switching gear focus
Headquarters
Stockholm, Sweden
Active markets
Europe, North America, most of Asia
website
https://houdinisportswear.com/en-eu
about
Houdini are a progressive outdoor company. With customer collaboration they are recycling, renting, repairing and reusing their product. With Houdini Reuse, they have created a marketplace for used Houdini garments: in stores, on their webshop and on Instagram. Here users can resell unique, top condition Houdini garments and give old garments a new life by passing them forward to a new owner. On top of this, Houdini offer a rental service and are exploring a subscription service for their gear in collaboration with RE:Source.
What they bring to the table
Several years of working with reuse and rental programs. Also a pilot in subscription.
We at Houdini want to work together with the whole industry to change the way we consume clothes today. Instead the use of the products and the experience of the users should be in focus.
about
Stephanie Dunn has over 18 years experience launching and growing brands in-house as an E-commerce Director and as a Consultant, with deep expertise in technology platforms, business tools, and omni-channel strategies. Her focus is supporting pioneering brands in leveraging technology to develop sustainable practices, as well as advocating for and partnering with technology platforms that can both power and elevate circular business models for the fashion industry.
What they bring to the table
Stephanie Dunn has led numerous and varied large scale technology projects, and has directed e-commerce and business development for several fashion brands. Her skills include gathering input from all business areas, developing requirements, evaluating various models, technologies, and partners, building project roadmaps including creative, operational and technical objectives, identifying blindspots, and then fully implementing plans that serve the needs of all.
"My aim is to be of service to the brands, enabling partners, and Circle Economy team in any capacity that will help achieve the project mission and give each participant a greater opportunity to succeed and grow." -Stephanie Dunn, consultant
Spinning Closet
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Amsterdam
Active markets
Netherlands
website
https://www.spinningcloset.com
about
Spinning Closet is a women’s rental platform for designer and special occasion items. The garments can be rented out for a period of 4-8 days, and can be reserved as long as 3 months in advance. Spinning Closet also provide a stylist service via Whatsapp, chat or phone, or at a fitting appointment at their physical showroom in Amsterdam.
What they bring to the table
‘’At Spinning Closet we believe in the power of collective change therefore we join the program.’’- Lilia Planjyan
Borrow a Brand
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Haarlem
Active markets
Netherlands and Belgium
website
https://www.borrowabrand.com
about
Borrow a Brand (BaB) is a unique online rental marketplace. It's an intermediary that gives individuals and companies the opportunity to rent or lend high end and/or sustainable apparel, jewelry, shoes and other accessories. The platform provides a clear overview of companies and individuals where one can rent these items. They can put their rentals and their business or individual information on the platform to generate more visibility. Customers can then directly rent specific items or find out more about a company of private lender.
What they bring to the table
BaB can offer fashion rental companies promotion on the platform, as they can create a company profile and offer items at the platform. Currently BaB has an expanding community of lenders and renters, exactly the community these Brands will be focusing on.
‘’BaB is all about bringing rental services together at one online marketplace.The Switching Gear Enabling Network has the same goal, but offline. A great opportunity for BaB to meet others and gain knowledge.’’- Megaidi Pinas
Trove
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
San Francisco, CA
Active markets
United States and Canada
website
http://www.trove.com
about
Trove’s Recommerce Operating System ™ powers trade-in and resale for beloved brands, delivering sustainable and profitable growth at scale. Customers have millions of branded items not in use in their closets that brands can get back and resell. Trove’s operation and technology reduces the complexity of turning returns and traded-in items into instant value, re-engaging existing customers, and attracting new ones.
What they bring to the table
Trove is the leading expert in scalable branded resale and working with world-class brands such as Allbirds, lululemon, REI, Patagonia, Eileen Fisher, and many more. They operate the largest, most successful branded resale experiences, with in-store trade-in programs across 700+ nationwide stores across their brand partners. As a technology company—with a test-and-learn mindset—they've gathered countless valuable insights about how to develop, launch and optimize branded resale programs at scale for beloved brands.
"We believe brands can grow without growing their carbon emissions."- Trove
Yellow Octopus
Innovator
about
Yellow Octopus is a solution provider for retailers, related to stock exit, take back and technology. They are the umbrella company for Reflaunt as well as the Regain app, which helps consumers turn unwanted clothing into discount coupons.
What they bring to the table
To come
To come
about
Treïs is a family-owned investment group. We are part of a 120-year family history and conscious of this entrepreneurial legacy. Our belief is that long-term economic performance can be achieved whilst pursuing positive social and environmental impact. So, we invest responsibly to protect capital, create long-term value for all stakeholders and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable economy.
What they bring to the table
Treïs invests to pass on a better planet to the next generation, making a positive contribution to our environment. Treis’ mission is to promote responsible entrepreneurship, and to sustain and transmit our family values and legacy, in order to contribute to a free and fair society, confident in the future.
"Treïs strives to actively promote circularity in fashion by engaging with innovators, sharing an investor view with entrepreneurs and advocating new solutions. Treïs continues to develop a responsible consumption investment platform." - Estelle Dupuy, Investment Manager
thredUP
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
San Francisco
Active markets
U.S.
website
https://www.thredup.com
about
ThredUP is an online resale platform. With their Clean Out Kit service, consumers can send in unwanted clothing for cash/credit, and thredup handles the resale. In 2018, ThredUp launched their new online platform UPcycle, which allows fashion brands & retailers to join them in circular initiatives. Currently, customers can turn their old clothes into shopping credit at Reformation or Cuyana, with more retailers to join soon. Thredup is also launching their own stores as well as collaborating with brands to create resale shop in shops, for example with Macy’s.
What they bring to the table
"Our mission is to end fashion waste through reuse, and inspire a new generation of consumers to think secondhand first."- Karen Clark
The Renewal Workshop
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Cascade Locks, OR USA - plan for a workshop in the Netherlands in the fall of 2019.
Active markets
USA, Canada, EU in late 2019
website
https://renewalworkshop.com
about
The Renewal Workshop is the leading provider of circular solutions for apparel and textile brands. We are helping brands reduce their negative environmental impacts and expand their businesses by adopting circular practices. We offer Apparel and Textile Renewal, Sales Channel Management for Renewed Products, Circular Mapping, Data Collection and Textile Recycling R&D. Our proprietary Renewal System takes discarded apparel and textiles and turns them into Renewed Products, upcycling materials or feedstock for recycling. We track data on everything that flows through the system offering comprehensive insights never before available on products lifetime value and impact. The Renewal Workshop operates a zero waste circular system that recovers value out of what has already been created as a way of serving customers, partners, and planet.
What they bring to the table
The Renewal workshop process guides a brand from interest to launching their recommerce strategy. It includes baselining where a company is at, where their waste is, then understanding their business's ability to become circular and then conducting tests and finally to market.
"We want to see an industry where resources are used wisely and is zero waste. Joining the Switching Gear Enabling Network is important to us to co-create a collaborative ecosystem of brands and service providers testing new models to show there is a better way." - Jeff Denby, Co-founder
The Next Closet
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Amsterdam
Active markets
Netherlands and Belgium
website
https://thenextcloset.com
about
The Next Closet is an online resale marketplace for second hand designer fashion in the Benelux- they make it easy to sell or shop pre-loved items. They provide a DIY Service or a selective Premium service for sellers. In DIY, the seller handles their own sale and receive 80% of the price, whereas if an item passes an application for the Premium service, they handle its photography and sale. In this case the seller receives 50-65% of the proceeds.
What they bring to the table
The Next Closet provide a circular recommerce solution for designer fashion brands. In a nutshell how it works: 1. Encourage your customers to give their pre-loved items a second life via The Next Closet (TNC). 2. Provide credits as a reward for their upload at TNC and encourage your customers to spend this on your brand again (extend their lifetime value and connect them to a beautiful circular solution reducing the environmental impact from the fashion industry)
"Our mission is to create a circular fashion revolution together with consumers and established fashion brands." - Thalita van Ogtrop
TEXAID
Solution Provider
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Switzerland
Active markets
All EU countries, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Morocco
website
https://retailsolutions.texaid.com/
about
As one of Europe’s leading organisations for collecting, sorting and recycling pre- and post-consumer textiles, TEXAID processes over 80,000 tons (more than 300 Mio. items) every year. TEXAID collects end-of-use textiles in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Austria and in the USA. Around half of the collected textiles are sorted in our own sorting facilities in Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Marocco and the USA. TEXAID offers recycling solutions for retailers as well as corporate wear.
What they bring to the table
TEXAID Retail Solutions provides custom-made concepts for producers, distributors and retailers in the textile industry. Our concepts are made to keep pre- and post-consumer textiles in the textile circle. TEXAID Retail Solutions addresses the textile industry's growing need for sustainable end-of-use solutions. With the take-back systems In-shop collection and PACKMEE, TEXAID operates two systems which enable the return of used textiles in both, the stationary trade and e-commerce sector.Overstock and customer returns can be kept in the textile cycle by professional sorting, innovative recycling processes and the international distribution network. Brand protection and customer-specific requirements are taken into consideration. All proceedings are taking place in one of TEXAIDs sorting facilities.
“Through the Services we provide, the knowledge and experience which we bring in this field, we can assure you a sustainable utilization and responsible recycling of pre- and post-consumer textiles. To be able to closed loop recycling in the future we also invest in research and development to tribe the technology further“ - Martin Böschen, CEO Texaid.
Swap Society
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California, USA
Active markets
SWAP society operates in the USA, with a focus on expanding internationally, probably Europa and Australia
website
https://www.swapsociety.co/
about
Swap Society is a subscription clothing swap service that uses a points system to give consumers equal value for their unwanted clothes. The service makes it fun, affordable, and easy for people to mix up their wardrobes in a sustainable way. People can send in the clothes that don’t fit them anymore, that are no longer their current style, or that they bought but never wear, and swap them for clothing they want to wear. By bringing value back to unwanted clothing, they are helping keep those textiles out of the landfill as well as abating the overconsumption of new textiles.
What they bring to the table
SWAP Society are eager to share their learnings and experiences in the space of recommerce.
"Clothing overconsumption has created an environmental crisis. New business models are necessary and we must support one another as we attempt to shift consumer habits.” - Nicole Robertson
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Style Lend
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
New York
Active markets
USA
website
https://www.stylelend.com/
about
Style Lend is a renting and lending platform for women’s clothing. Style Lend offer a 7 day rental, with a return policy of 48 hours without charge. Style Lend also operates as a peer-to-peer lending platform, wherein the lender receives 80% of the rental fee. They only accept items that are at least $250 in retail value and less than 2 years old. They do not handle cleaning or shipping services.
What they bring to the table
Style Lend can offer their rental software as a service to retailers which they have developed over the last 6 years with great dedication.
"Rentals extend the life of a garment. Extending the life of clothes by just 3 months leads to 5-10% reduction in each of the carbon, water and waste footprints. (wrap.org.uk)" -Lona Alia, CEO
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STUFFSTR
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
London, UK
Active markets
UK
website
https://www.stuffstr.com/
about
Stuffstr provide an end-to-end solution for retailers to reclaim every item they sell. For retail partners, Stuffstr is a triple win. Retailers get (a) immediate revenue through Stuffstr's purchase of gift cards to pay customers for their used items, (b) delighted customers, and (c) unprecedented data on the post-sale life of the items they sell.
What they bring to the table
Stuffstr partners with retailers and brands to provide instant buy-back of every item. At the touch of a button, retail customers can have items picked up the same day for free, and be paid instantly in the form of store credit as soon as the items are received. Currently, only 2% of items are ever resold on any resale marketplace, and over $400 billion per year of residual value is either discarded (70%) or recycled/donated (28%). Stuffstr captures this value for both consumers and retailers, and provides a core foundation for the global shift to a circular economy.
"Stuffstr provides a market-driven approach to reducing waste and moving the world towards a circular economy. Our massively scalable model engages major brands and retailers to reclaim and repurpose every item they sell."- John Atcheson, Founder & CEO
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RePack
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Helsinki, Finland
Active markets
EU, US
website
https://www.originalrepack.com/success-story/?id=2
about
RePack is a reusable and returnable packaging service for ecommerce. Webshops can send their orders in "RePacks", end users can send the empty "RePacks" to RePack. Upon arrival of the empty RePacks, the end user receives a thank-you email with a reward. Then, the RePack is brought into circulation again.
What they bring to the table
RePack can eliminate single use packaging trash and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty
‘’We introduce Returnable and Reusable packaging to eliminate trash for the works of Fashion E-commerce."- Jan Berbee, Partner
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Reflaunt
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Singapore/London
Active markets
Europe, Middle East and South East Asia
website
https://www.reflaunt.com
about
Reflaunt is a technology that promotes circular economy by connecting brands with the secondary market. The technology allows customers of brands to resell, donate or recycle their past purchases directly from the e-commerce site of the brand or the retailer. Reflaunt technology includes a smart button that allows customers to push products for resale on our network of second-hand marketplaces. Once an item is sold the customer can be paid in cash or store credit with the brand or the retailer.
What they bring to the table
Reflaunt have been running a second hand marketplace for the last 6 years we can provide extensive insight into the re commerce business. We can provide a number of tech assets for brands to get involved in the re-commerce business. - Reflaunt can provide a stock exit solution using our second hand network. - Reflaunt can implement their resell button and our circular model with their e-commerce. - Reflaunt can build a white label peer to peer second hand marketplace dedicated to the brands. Note that Reflaunt second hand distribution channels can also be used by brands to move unsold inventory (past collections).
"We are here to facilitate the upcycling process and make it extremely easy for people to resell, donate or recycle their past purchases. But our goal is also to allow brands to take back control of the secondary market." - Felix Winckler, Co-founder & CCO
Oxfam
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Northern Ireland
Active markets
Island of Ireland
website
https://www.oxfamireland.org
about
Oxfam Ireland is one of 20 Oxfam's that make up the Oxfam International confederation working with partners in over 90 countries to end the injustices that cause poverty. We operate 47 charity shops across Ireland that raise money to enable Oxfam to carry out its campaigning work at home and development and humanitarian work abroad. For the past two years, we have been running a pilot scheme , selling unsold stock in the form of jewellery and accessories.
What they bring to the table
We are wanting to partner with apparel brands who have a shared vision of a sustainable world free of poverty and injustice. We will develop a business model that will provide our partners with a sustainable and ethical solution for excess stock that will raise money for Oxfam's work. We can offer our partners the following; Pick up from anywhere in Europe, de-tagging/de-branding service if required, All stock will be barcoded, regular sales and impact reports, presentations to staff on the impact the partnerships will deliver, Joint PR/Marketing, Visit to Oxfam program (East, central & Southern Africa)
‘’We believe this network will enable like minded people and companies to come together to deliver a circular economy that not only reduces the damage current business models are creating but can support people living in poverty’’ - Trevor Anderson
MUD Jeans
Frontrunning Brand
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Laren, The Netherlands
Active markets
Worldwide through Nudie Jeans webshop and around 300 stores in 29 countries.
website
https://mudjeans.eu
about
MUD Jeans is a circular denim brand. We produce jeans via the principles of the circular economy. Our jeans contain between 23% and 40% post-consumer recycled cotton, but starting 2020, they will be made entirely out of old jeans! You can either buy or lease our jeans. At the end-of-life we will take them back and recycle them into new jeans through mechanical recycling. In 2012 Mud Jeans have introduced Lease A Jeans, a leasing model for jeans.
What they bring to the table
In 2012 Mud Jeans introduced Lease A Jeans, a rental model for circular jeans. Therefore, Mud Jeans has a lot of knowledge and lessons learned to share on the topic.
Being a circular economy leader, we are motivated to share our insights and lessons learned with others that wish to implement a rental or recommerce business model.
MonoChain
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
London
Active markets
MonoChain operates in all of Europe
website
https://monochain.org/
about
MonoChain has developed an easy to integrate blockchain platform to bring primary and resale markets together to enable a circular economy and simultaneously combating counterfeits. MonoChain facilitates the reuse of fashion items and empowers brands to generate new revenue streams by connecting them to the resale market.
What they bring to the table
MonoChain can connect the primary and resale market thereby enabling a circular economy while simultaneously combating counterfeits. Our easy to integrate multi-tenant blockchain platform facilitates brands to generate new revenue streams in the resale market as well as collect valuable data by keeping in touch with their customers. To reduce friction, we ensured a quick and convenient customer experience. Basically, we make a physical asset a digital one which can lead to new business models including leasing. Our solution can be white labeled.
‘’We believe that the fashion industry has to do a lot of work to reduce the environmental impact and initiatives like the Switching Gear Enabling Network can facilitate adoption of new innovations without needing to reinvent the wheel.’’ - Geri Cupi
Lizee
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Paris, France
Active markets
Europe
website
https://www.lizee.co/
about
Lizee is a rental service which helps brands enter the circular economy by renting their products and allowing multiple uses of each good they produce. Every aspect of the rental model is handled by Lizee (technology, logistics, process) so that brands can focus on their core business.
What they bring to the table
Lizee has developed a program that allows brands to launch and validate their rental offer – hassle free – in 9 months only. During the program, we help brands define the offering (2 weeks), prepare before launch (2 months), test and iterate an offering live (6 months) and learn before scaling (2 weeks). We provide brands with all the assets they need to conduct a successful rental offering: technology, reverse logistics, process, equipped warehouse, rentals experience and so on.
"We are thrilled to join the Switching Gear initiative and to accelerate the rental revolution together with brands. We look forward to empowering them with our solution!" - Tanguy Frécon, CEO and co-founder
GIBBON
Innovator
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Amsterdam
Active markets
GIBBON is currently based in Netherlands and will be expanding our services to London in 4Q 2019.
website
https://gibbon.today/
about
GIBBON is a travel rental platform that connects the excess stock from brands and retailers to travellers to enable a luggage-less travel experience. For the Asian Travellers (our key market), GIBBON is a sustainable and value-added service that helps them to reduce unnecessary buying of travel wear (especially those coming from unfamiliar climate), save luggage space and baggage fees and also know and try new brands/styles. For brands, GIBBON is a sustainable way to unlock the value of their excess inventory without brand dilution, enable new client acquisition and a good entry point to the rental business model.
What they bring to the table
GIBBON is a good entry point into the rental business model for the 6 brands. Catering to the travellers, GIBBON serves a target market outside the brand's geographical market and is a marketing platform for new client acquisitions. By extending their excess stock to GIBBON, these brands can launch a smaller rental business model to understand the key highlights they should be concern of when they scale their pilots by 2021.
"GIBBON's goal is to provide brands a rental platform that is environmentally sustainable, business remunerative and value-add to the customers."
Eileen Fisher Renew
Frontrunning Brand
Switching gear focus
Recommerce
Headquarters
Irvington, NY
Active markets
EILEEN FISHER is available in USA, Canada, UK. Renew is available in the USA only.
website
https://www.eileenfisherrenew.com/
about
EILEEN FISHER is a women’s clothing brand, founded in 1984, who launched their take-back and reuse program Renew in 2009. Renew takes back garments (for $5 store credit per garment), and either resells them in store/ online, reuses or recycles them. They currently have two freestanding, own-operated RENEW recycling centres which handle and process the returned garments; the ‘Tiny Factory; in Irvington and the Seattle warehouse. The garments are sorted by hand, and categorised according to quality.
What they bring to the table
We can be a resource and mentor for those companies trying to start recommerce initiatives. We are happy to share what we know and can host visits for anyone who can get to us.
"We believe many companies need to join the recommerce industry in order to make a positive impact to our environment."
ëClean Advanced Fabricare
Expert
Switching gear focus
Rental
Headquarters
Denton, TX (Dallas-Ft.Worth Metroplex)
Active markets
ëClean operates in North America, global by the end of 2020
website
https://www.eclean.green/
about
The ëClean Advanced Fabricare is a process that uses proprietary liquid carbon dioxide technology to hygienically clean and sanitize garments in one cycle and features a heat free dry-cycle. The Advanced Fabricare process minimizes the environmental impact of apparel & textiles by expertly delivering better performing and longer lasting items. Textiles last up to 4X longer than traditional wasteful water (laundry) and toxic chemical based (dry-cleaning) methods. By optimizing our client’s garment investments and preserving valuable built in textile performance, the ëClean service is attractive to a wide spectrum of garment and textile users, especially in the apparel rental space.
What they bring to the table
Advanced Fabricare extends the active service life of apparel products while optimizing the performance of those products, giving them more valuable in-service time. The ëClean fulfillment center has the physical storage space to manage the shipping, receiving, cleaning, repairing and inventory logistics so brands can rent or sell more items, more often and more profitably. Brands can concentrate on what they do best. We have 35+ years of success in the apparel cleaning industry where we have been leading innovators and solution providers.
"Our technology perfectly aligns with the SGEN mission statement: reduce the overall impact of the apparel industry by optimizing the active service life of garments and products." - Reuben Rosenblatt
circular.fashion
Expert
Switching gear focus
Headquarters
Berlin
Active markets
Circular Fashion operates in all EU countries
website
https://circular.fashion
about
Circular.fashion is a sustainable change agency focused on product and system innovation for a circular economy in fashion and textiles. The circular.fashion system is a digital platform for circular design and closed loop recycling. With a sleek and smart traceability solution the platform enables a transparent flow of information between material suppliers, brands, customers and recyclers.
What they bring to the table
1) Circular design strategies, such as designing for optimal use. Garments intended to circulate among many users through recommerce or rental models would greatly benefit by being designed for that purpose so that the pieces last as long as possible. This can be done through increasing the garments’ functional durability by e.g strengthening stress points, making the size adjustable to fit many users, designing for many occasions etc. 2) Exploring the potential for circularity.ID, a digital information carrier they developed and that holds full transparency of the piece it is attached to- from materials and production to options for updating, reusing and recycling. This is especially interesting as this kind of technology opens up incredible opportunities for transparency and traceability of the supply chain, increased consumer engagement, prolonged use period of garments and to finally ensure reuse and recycling.
"New consumption models play a central role in creating a circular future for fashion and we’re excited to join forces with like-minded innovators to find and spread solutions that accelerate the transition towards that future."- Jonna Haeggblom
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