Kristy Caylor of Trashie on Full Circle Fashion, Rewarding Recycling, and Being a Painkiller

85% of used clothing ends up in landfills, but textile recycling and rewards platform Trashie is out to save our castaway garments from becoming mountains of waste. Launched only a few months ago, Trashie is taking the fashion industry by storm with its instantly recognizable Take Back Bag and viral closet cleanup videos, and the mind behind this magic is Trashie founder and CEO, Kristy Caylor. 

Kristy earned a BS in Industrial Engineering and her MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business before entering the fashion industry, where she worked for iconic brands like Banana Republic, Gap, and Band of Outsiders. She co-founded her own fashion brand, Maiyet, in 2010, and eight years later, co-founded For Days, the original closed-loop clothing company. 

As CEO of For Days, Kristy oversees strategy, marketing, technology, product design, and growth (just to name a few), successfully growing the brand globally while earning various awards for its mission-driven work. But Kristy recognized that more could be done to reduce the amount of used clothing that went to waste, so she launched Trashie.

Trashie sells its Take Back Bags to customers, who fill them up with unwanted clothing, accessories, and shoes, and mail them back to the brand in exchange for TrashieCash, which customers can use to purchase real world items and rewards, thanks to Trashie’s impressive partnership network. 

Hear Kristy share how she employs a systems engineering approach to business, what she learned working at top fashion brands versus building her own, and why Trashie’s approach to upcycling is a win-win for everyone. 

Episode Highlights

00:00 Kristy Caylor on the textile waste problem 

00:42 Conor Gaughan introduces Kristy and Trashie

03:48 Undergrad STEM, first startup, and entrepreneurship

07:51 Business school, the fashion industry, and professional evolution 

16:28 Co-founding For Days, its business model, and clothing waste

26:20 Trashie’s origin, the Take Back Bag, and incentivizing circularity

36:12 Sustainability in fashion, industry innovations, and changing behavior

42:28 What’s next for Trashie and finding optimism

46:25 Where to learn more and end credits

If you liked this episode, listen next to Catherine Roggero-Lovisi of Modern Meadow

More on Trashie and Kristy Caylor:

• trashie.io 
• linkedin.com/company/trashie 
• linkedin.com/in/kristycaylor 

Connect with Conor Gaughan on linkedin.com/in/ckgone and threads.net/@ckgone

Have questions, or a great idea for a potential guest? Email us at CiC@consensus-digital.com

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify – it really makes a difference! 

Consensus in Conversation is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media produced in association with Reasonable Volume.