Summary

ThredUp has created a modern resale marketplace for used clothing. Through the use of its app and platform capabilities, the company is encouraging reuse and wants to remove friction in identifying used clothing and other fashion items. ThredUp sellers send in their used clothes from any brand for free through a prepaid shipping label. The company then processes these items, performs quality inspection, analysis, storage and listing, so they can be resold. Buyers on the platform then have access to a large quantity of verified, high-quality clothes from over 35000 brands. Once an item is sold, the seller of the original item may make some money from the sale of their item of clothing, thereby giving consumers an opportunity to recoup the value of their used items of clothing. The company is not currently offering repair, but items that aren’t listed in the marketplace, either go to secondhand clothing shops (thrift stores) and textile recyclers. Sellers can also opt into thredUP’s Return Assurance service in order to have any unaccepted items returned to them for a flat fee. (Source) In 2018, the company extended its platform with Resale-as-a-Service (RaaS), which allows brands and retailers to plug into its platform which can be customized to each company.

Story

Co-Founder James Reinhart was pursuing his MBA at Harvard Business School while living in a tiny apartment when he had an idea for a used clothes marketplace. He wanted to figure out what to do with clothes he no longer wanted. In 2009, the company began its foray into online resale as a virtual swapping platform for grownups looking for a way to empty their closets and upgrade their wardrobes. In doing some market research for the idea, Reinhart realized that “[n]ot a single person said they wore over half their clothes…[t]he average person said they wore one-third of their wardrobe.”  (Source) When Reinhart had the idea of ThredUp, platforms such as eBay existed for selling secondhand goods, but the process was laborious for the seller, requiring them to photograph, price, and mail products out. ThredUp removes these frictions associated with resale and reuse. The company’s other two co-founders are Chris Homer and Oliver Lubin.

Pic Credit: ThredUp