Hello Again! From the Design Team
We’re back! It’s been awhile since we’ve written a post (it’s been a busy few years for us!), and we’re excited to share some changes we’re bringing to this space.
But first, a little bit about what’s been going on around here. Our mission to inspire a new generation to think secondhand first has reached some major milestones recently. We’re now a public company (!), expanding our presence and bringing even more thrifters on our journey to reduce fashion waste and extend the life of clothing. We’ve gone through a major design rebrand, with the help of the Red Antler branding agency and our in house design team. We’ve made some real progress keeping clothes in closets and out of landfills. In total, we’ve processed over 125M items, displaced 1.1B lbs of CO2e, saved consumers $3.98B off estimated retail price, and donated $550K to charities. We like to think we’re well on our way to making a dent in the universe. #goals.
The thredUP Design team has joined forces with our Product and Engineering teams to post meaningful updates and give you an inside look into how we make things work at thredUP. Though our teams have grown with our ever-expanding business, a lot of the challenges remain the same. How do we reach the widest audience possible, across all generations. How do we collaborate cross functionally and use our Design, Product, and Engineering skills to find the best solutions possible, making sure our customer experience reflects our brand values. And most importantly, how do we dispel the myth of secondhand and reintroduce the idea of thrifting to a global audience.
The fashion industry is one of the most environmentally damaging sectors in the global economy. By extending the life cycle of millions of garments, thredUP’s scalable, resale business model is a solution to the fashion industry’s wastefulness. Thrifting is about more than just finding amazing deals on your favorite brands. It’s about shopping with intention, rejecting throwaway fashion culture, and standing for sustainability. The clothes we wear have the power to create change. We created a smarter way to shop and sell by creating a modern resale experience on one of the largest online platforms for women’s and kids’ secondhand apparel, providing a fun and convenient place to shop and clean out your closet.
In this space moving forward, you’ll see some case studies from our teams that open the doors to how we create solutions to some of our core challenges. We’ll make introductions to our team members, putting a face behind the work and sharing our personal stories. We hope to make our articles digestible, entertaining, informative, and relevant. But we also hope to make this a two-way conversation. The goal is not only to invest in ourselves, but also to use this as a forum to share, collaborate, and learn. We want to connect, and hear your ideas around similar challenges you’ve faced and how you tackled them. This is all about learning together as a community and being passionate about our craft as a way to support our mission and influence change. We hope you’ll come along for the ride as we push ourselves to continue to grow and evolve.
