Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kara Livingston. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kara, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Hand Me Up is on a mission to fight overconsumption of fast fashion and textile waste. These two problems go hand in hand and impact not only the employees manufacturing clothes in unsafe environments but also impact the environment through waste and pollution. Fast fashion can be defined as clothing made at incredibly cheap prices by employees not being paid fair wages or provided a safe work environment. Hand Me Up wants to help our customers have an option that is as easy, cost effective and sustainable when it comes to purchasing kids’ clothes!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am Kara, half of the Hand Me Up team. Nicole and I met when we were 14 and hit it off from the start. As high school friends, we shared clothes, shoes and loved shopping each other’s closets. When we moved into motherhood, the sharing continued but this time with their kids’ clothes.

We always knew we wanted to own a business together, so one day the ideas of us sharing our own kids’ clothes plus the problem of overconsumption and textile waste collided into the idea of Hand Me Up. Kara wanted to make the conscious consumer decision as easy as possible for busy moms. Nicole wanted an avenue to educate the general consumer on the impact of their choices. Hand Me Up became the avenue to do both. We firmly believe moms can change the world.

We curate preloved capsule (mix and match) clothes for kids, sizes 0 up to size 6 – when kids are growing like weeds! Our product, THE BAG, is a collection of capsule-style clothing based on size, climate, and gender. Pre-loved items are styled and assembled personally by our team of moms, and are available for purchase anytime! We offer one time purchases or subscriptions with just the click of a button, and we even offer a style quiz to customize the experience further.

Our community of moms make this possible by sending in gently-worn clothing their children have outgrown or simply no longer wear. In an ongoing effort to grow our community and support other moms just like us, we provide a $10 credit every time you send us clothes!

Hand Me Up exists to make shopping secondhand easier for busy families while also saving clothes from the landfill one item at a time!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

The main thing that helped us build our reputation and be able to please our customers is that we are our target customer. We are very aware of what families are looking for when it comes to kids’ closet needs because of our own experiences as mothers of young children currently. We lay hands on every item of clothing that comes into our warehouse, and have worked to become knowledgeable on the subjects of textile waste and recycling through research and building relationships in the secondhand industry. All of these things combined, allow us to stay on top of the problems our customer faces and the environmental issues the world is facing.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

This is easier said than done, but listening to our customers has helped us grow our clientele. We listen to what families need and want via social media posts, customer feedback and even chatting with our own friends and communities. We still handle all customer service emails and social media messages ourselves. This keeps us really connected to what is working and what isn’t. Any business who just spends some time in their direct messages on social media will get an idea of what their customers need and want. This is the best way to grow them!    

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.handmeupshop.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handmeup_shop/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shophandmeup
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCci7oxDbR1LheV3w8pUPf7Q
• TikTok: @handmeup_shop

Image Credits
Maggie Kloss Photography for photos of people Jonathan Ivy for flatlay photo of the BAG