S7 Ep9 JESSICA RENNARD: Helpsy’s Chief Merchandising Officer - on annually recirculating 30 million lbs of clothing through collection and resale, and the unique challenges of scaling the circular economy.

Apr 3, 2023

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Episode Title:

S7 Ep9 JESSICA RENNARD: Helpsy’s Chief Merchandising Officer - on annually recirculating 30 million lbs of clothing through collection and resale, and the unique challenges of scaling the circular economy.

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Pre-Loved Podcast is a weekly vintage fashion interview show, with guests you’ll want to go thrifting with! For more Pre-Loved Podcast, subscribe to our Patreon!

Today’s show is with Jessica Rennard, the Chief Merchandising Officer at Helpsy, a certified B corp clothing collection and resale company whose mission is to keep clothing out of the landfill. Jessica has worked in resale for the majority of her career and has helped developed the industry – we talk about her wide range of experience on the show, but she’s truly seen it all.

In 2020 she launched a secondhand business that supplies inventory to casual sellers that utilize re-commerce marketplaces. The business was acquired by Helpsy and Jessica and her team continue to work on strengthening the capabilities of the circular economy.

We chat about annually recirculating 30 million lbs of clothing through collection and resale each, and the unique challenges of scaling the circular economy. All this, and more, on today's show, so let's dive right in!

DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE:

[4:19] Jessica gets her start in the resale industry – usually working with product that would otherwise be discarded from the rest of the secondhand space.
[8:16] Jessica becomes a consultant for the secondhand industry, helping area thrift stores figure out how to sell through their unsold inventory and increase profit margins.
[12:32] The human judgment that goes into clothing sorting – especially in a high-volume center like Helpsy that has seen 86,000 different brands in eight months.
[17:13] Jessica helped turn a family-run retail business dealing in overstock into a fully secondhand, resale business.
[20:42] During the pandemic, Jessica started a mystery box company that made $8 million in revenue in 19 months.
[23:14] How Helpsy fits into the resale and textile re-use landscape, and the unique challenges and opportunities they’re tackling within the circular economy.
[40:27] Best practices for donating clothing, thoughtfully.
[46:15] Designer pieces getting processed through bulk resale – at Helpsy, 3.5% of their sort is classified as high luxury.

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