We recently connected with Amelia Trumble and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Amelia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Shipping and Logistics. I know, most DTC companies would say customer acquisition costs but because Retold has basically created a new service or category of consumer goods, acquiring customers profitably isn’t that challenging in our current hyper growth phase. The market forces particularly in 2022 (oil prices, Ukraine etc)that lead to dramatic increases in freight costs, have been the largest challenge to our profitability to date.
Unfortunately with our current model, the cost of shipping is built into the retail price and even though we had a cushion, expecting prices to go up, we never predicted the rise of 2022. And unfortunately our growth didnt out-pace the price hikes, so for a while we couldn’t even try and negotiate. Thankfully off the back of our appearance on Shark Tank, our increased exposure and volumes have meant we are in much better shape.
File this knowledge under: Things you didn’t know you needed to understand when you decided to become a recycling entrepreneur :-)

Amelia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I worked in Marketing at MAC Cosmetics in New York with my co-founders and we frequently talked about a long-term pivot to invest our efforts into a business that was doing good for the earth.

Years later, I was renovating my closets in a small NYC apartment and was frustrated to find no solution to easily declutter unwanted clothes, particularly without adding to the global landfill issues or contributing to carbon emissions. I wouldn’t say that any of us thought about becoming “environmental leaders” but that desire to move out of consumer goods marketing combined with an eco-consciousness lead us here today. And we couldn’t be more thrilled!

Retold Recycling aims to build a community of like-minded customers with a collective mantra and mission: #NoLandfill. We are a convenient and sustainable mail-in service for recycling any and all unwanted and pre-loved clothing and household textiles, responsibly diverting waste from landfill. To date, Retold has successfully diverted and recycled almost 100 tons of textile waste from landfill.

Together with our partners, items sent in each Retold bag are thoroughly sorted before going to charities, thrift stores, reuse partners, up-cyclers, rag companies, and soon, next generation fabric houses. We have created an easy and hassle-free service for consumers to clean-out unwanted textile items in the most sustainable and environmentally conscious way that puts recycling at the center of consumer shopping habits.

We believe that Retold can become synonymous with “Clothing and Textile Recycling”. Frankly we’d love to become a verb – “I’m going to Retold this old t-shirt”. We believe the biggest opportunity is around education – simply there are so many end consumers who don’t even realize they are contributing to landfills by throwing their old underwear or socks etc. in the trash. That’s why at Retold we are obsessive about education and spreading our #nolandfill mission – the more people we have mindfully diverting their old items to recycling is how we will really make a difference for our Planet. Hopefully changing widespread consumer behavior and decreasing textile landfills one day will be our legacy!

How’d you meet your business partner?

I started Retold Recycling with my business partners Noelle Delory and Alan Yeoh, the three of us co-founders worked together in marketing at MAC Cosmetics in New York. After years of frequently talking about a way to invest our efforts into a business that would make a positive impact on the earth, Noelle and I crystallized the idea over dinner one evening and then Alan joined us in the business! Today Alan and I run the business with our amazing team of part-timers and consultants and Noelle is behind the scenes as an investor and we say “Cheerleader in Chief”.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Forr individuals or organizations that are interested in promoting sustainability & reducing waste:

1. If you have a family, start educating about sustainability young – My daughter is almost 4 and we talk all the time about recycling, the drought in California, and I have her help me with composting too!
2. Lead by example – Companies have the opportunity to show their employees how to recycle and implement sustainability programs (such as using Retold!) This past Earth Week, we partnered with many companies on educational and textile collection programs!
3. Champion others – At Retold we love to support up-and-coming influencers or mentoring interns who are passionate about sustainability!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.retoldrecycling.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retoldrecycling/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/retoldrecycling/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/42162960/admin/feed/posts/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@retoldrecycling

Image Credits
Photos belong to Retold Recycling