Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1095283
Rachel Kibbe Co-Founder of Helpsy What retailers are you working with currently? "We are introducing a retail program in March for Bloomingdale's nationally. It will be a denim collection and recycling initiative. Our boxes will be in 33 stores for a week. Customers will be able to bring any brand of unwanted denim in and Bloomingdales will give an incen- tive for some type of discount on a new pair of jeans." How do you work with your partners and sorters? "We are the largest clothing collector in the northeast. A lot of work that they do takes a trained eye. Determining the condition and style of an item is difficult. People go through these items one by one and know how to get the most value for that item. It's the most responsible way, to me, that you can be sustainable – paying a fair living wage to these people. While this industry has been quite fragmented in the past, we are trying to make it bigger and better. A lot of these sorting facilities are mom-and-pop run and women-owned businesses. This is a relationship- based business." Ninety-five percent of what you collect is reused, upcycled or recycled. Seventy-five percent is reusable and 20 percent is recyclable. How do you determine what is reused and what is recycled? "That's where expertise comes in. We tell people, you are not donating clothes, you are recycling them. You should never take on the job of sorting yourself. Graders have their own customers around the world needing specific things. Perhaps one needs lots and lots of toddler cloth- ing. Grader experts know which toddler pieces are out of season. Also, a stained cotton t-shirt can be very valuable because cotton is great for absorption in industrial rags. It may be better than say nylon stockings, which are not very recyclable. People think they are going to insult someone by putting stained items in a bag for donation, but really, you're recycling." Does it pay off for the sorters to be searching for such specific items or brands? "Well, they are going through every piece anyway. So, if you give them enough advance notice and pay them a percentage more, it adds up very quickly with that quantity of clothing. This is a brand-new process that retailers are asking us for. Timing depends on how many items they need, whether they are going to turn it into something else or if they are going to sell it as is on another platform." l Clockwise from top left: Helpsy bins in Brooklyn; Rachel Kibbe and Al Husted (Co-Founder) at a sustainable fashion conference in LA in 2018; Hosting clothing collection at sustainable brand pop-up shop at Arlo Hotel Soho in 2018; Kibbe and Milliner at NYSAR3 in 2018 - New York State's annual recycling conference. textileinsight.com March/April 2019 ~ Textile Insight • 25