thredUP Greens Back-to-School Season

Kids clothing swap site encourages a “go green” mentality during back-to-school

Cambridge, MA (Vocus) September 9, 2010

thredUP, the premier peer-to-peer online kids clothing exchange, has just wrapped up a green back-to-school campaign. The company has collected over 500 green pledges and raised $3,000 for Cradles to Crayons, an organization that provides new and gently used essentials to children living in homeless or low-income situations.

Back-to-school season continues to rank among one of the most wasteful times of the year. thredUP, a company founded on principles of sustainability, has implemented various initiatives to reward green behavior this back-to-school season. thredUP has donated $1 to Cradles to Crayons for each transaction on the swap site throughout August in an effort to get clothing and supplies to the kids who need it most.

In addition, at BlogHer ‘10, thredUP encouraged conference attendees to make “green school year pledges,” vowing to reduce, reuse or recycle kids clothing and school supplies. thredUP donated an additional dollar to Cradles to Crayons for each pledge collected at the event. Purchasing reusable drink containers and tapping into the second-hand kids clothing market were among two of the most popular green pledges.

“As a society, we have come to associate back-to-school season with new everything – an entirely new wardrobe along with the latest back-pack and supplies. Parents are expected to shell out hundreds regardless of the ‘like-new’ condition of last year’s items,” said James Reinhart, Chief Knitwit of thredUP. “There is so much waste around this time of year. thredUP is encouraging consumers to take a step back, try to ignore the alluring brand name discounts, and share what we already have to cut down on mass consumption. Swap instead of shop – it’s the thredUP way.”

thredUP has helped thousands of families prepare for back-to-school season, swapping outgrown kids clothes for school gear that fits. With over 20 billion pounds of clothing and textiles headed to U.S. landfills each year, thredUP recognizes the importance of sustainably. Since the company’s launch, thredUP has helped parents recycle upwards of 50,000 pounds of kids clothing.

About thredUP
thredUP.com is the brainchild of co-founders James Reinhart, Oliver Lubin, and Chris Homer. Both Reinhart and Homer are recent graduates of the Harvard Business School and all three developed the idea in the Spring of 2009. thredUP aims to help parents “conveniently exchange outgrown kids clothing for clothes that fit.” The company is currently based in Cambridge, MA and is advised by current Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Contact: Karen Fein
59 Grant Ave– 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
617.575.9676
karen(at)thredup(dot)com

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