Did you know that kids outgrow well over 1000 items of clothing before they are fully grown?
That’s a huge amount of clothes that – sadly – often ends up in the bin. Sarah Garner, Founder of Retykle and proud Mom to two little tykes shares why reselling children’s clothes is saving parents time and money and allowing them to do something good for the environment without compromise. Find out what inspired her to start this business for conscious consumers.
Sarah Garner, Founder of Retykle Photo Credit: Jenna Louise Potter
If I ever publish an autobiography, this would be its tagline:
Fuller life. Smaller footprint.
You are based in Hong Kong, what do you love about the social impact community there?
I love that the social impact community is making waves in Hong Kong by creating a supportive web and a megaphone to advance local causes and businesses. There are so many worthwhile initiatives here from impassioned individuals, charities and for-profit businesses with a social conscience. It’s an exciting time to be charting a new path in Hong Kong because the community is openly embracing and championing change.
Tell us more about your vision for Retykle and why you started this platform?
I had worked in luxury fashion for more than a decade climbing the corporate ladder. There were two seasons when I started my career, Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter which delivered somewhat in line with the buy now wear now seasonality. Over the past decade the emergence of fast fashion has put pressure on the rest of the industry to keep pace or risk extinction and as a result, the industry has fallen out of balance and into a crisis of oversupply.
As with most start-ups, the roots of Retykle grew from personal experience. It was evident from the amount of clothing I accumulated to welcome our first born followed by the piles of outgrown clothes that grew in the first three months of life that this was going to be a period of life with a new rate of consumption. The excess wasn’t just in the industry at large, it was living in our closets.
After receiving a large amount of high quality hand me downs from a friend in Hong Kong, I realised that her desire to remove the mountain of outgrown clothes from her precious closet space was high which was matched by my desire to adorn my son in beautiful barely worn kids clothes. I thanked her with a gift card for what I equated to the secondhand value of each item and the idea for Retykle was born.
Before we started, there was no hassle-free way for parents to clean out their closets and earn money back.
RETYKLE to make buying and re-selling great quality baby and kid’s clothing as convenient and as stylish as buying new.
Kids outgrow well over 1000 items of clothing before they are fully grown. The problem of what to do with them is universal and we are here to solve reallocation in the best possible way – we’re aiming to do something great for parents, the community and the environment by keeping well-made kids clothes in circulation for as long as possible.
We encourage parents to buy only high-quality brands (new or secondhand) which will stand the test of time and allow for multiple wears and multiple families via upcycling. We partner with local charities to ensure that anything which can’t be resold with us, will find a family in need. We also aim to address excess supply in the industry by partnering directly with brands on our accepted brand list to take on past season inventory which we pass on to our customers at a discount.
We’re saving parents time and money and allowing them to do something good for the environment without compromise. What we’re solving is not unique to Hong Kong so I plan to expand our model to other markets.
Was there a certain moment when you decided, that you wanted to build something from scratch?
The idea for Retykle sprouted one weekend on the couch with my husband very organically and from there, I just couldn’t stop thinking about how much I wanted it to exist for our family and everyone I spoke to about it, felt the same way. I don’t think there was any one moment. I just started putting the business plan and site design together one step at a time and it was more like a train that never stopped once it pulled out of the station.
Who inspires you personally?
I’ve always been inspired by female trail blazers in retail. For instance, Sara Blakely, Natalie Massenet, Angela Ahrendts. Although the retail field is dominantly female, there are still shockingly few female leaders.
I’ve always aspired to lead a retail company. Now that aspiration is coupled with a desire to have a positive impact. I’m inspired by companies who have achieved success coupled with a strong commitment to treading lightly, like Patagonia.
Do you measure your impact?
We measure the amount of kids fashion that we are keeping in circulation via resale and donations much of which would have otherwise found its way to landfill much earlier. We’ve saved tens of thousands of items so far.
What do you wish you would have known before starting out?
I wish I knew how to code! I like to learn as much as possible about every area of the business to prepare myself to hire well. Since we are an online business and I work with several developers, it would be handy to speak the same language. It’s never too late.
What is the craziest thing you did so far to market your business?
We’ve been working on growing through word of mouth recommendations and traditional digital channels so the crazy marketing ideas are coming next!
How will you sustain your organisation?
We are designing and building a new backend to support much faster processing times. Almost every item we receive is unique so in order to scale, we need to be lightning fast while also retaining our high standards.
We’ve also built a new notification system which allows parents to save even more time by just entering their preferences i.e. each child’s gender, size, favourite brands, preferred condition and type of clothing their looking for and we will send personalised emails with only new arrivals matching their preferences.
What gives you the worst sleepless nights right now?
The elusive ‘balance’ between family and business. It’s a new challenge to manage two young kids and a start-up.
What was the most memorable moment working on Retykle?
I think perhaps with any new business owner, the first customers who are complete strangers is a defining moment. Friends and family are always there to support your business in the beginning but strangers who place orders are the ones who you hold your breath for. That happened for us within the first three days so we knew we were on to something.
If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring change-makers, what would that be?
Research thoroughly and then, just start. If you get too caught up in perfecting the end game, you can get paralysed with fear and doubt.
What could everyone do RIGHT NOW to make the world a better place?
Consider each fashion purchase with it’s after life in mind. Wear it. Care for it and then ensure it lives beyond you or your kids wear to lighten your footprint. Develop a conscience around disposable fashion.
Where can we follow you?
Follow us on Facebook,Instagram and our newsletter via our Website
Want to try Retykling? Head over to https://retykle.com and you will receive a 25% discount on your first purchase with the Promo Code IMPACT.
If you enjoyed this interview you will love hearing from Christina Dean, Founder of Redress, who is fighting the excessive waste of the fashion industry. Listen here.
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