We recently connected with Shannon Taylor and have shared our conversation below.

Shannon, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

We are 2 sets of parents raising a total of 7 kids on fixed incomes. The cost for new clothing for kids is outrageous and shopping consignment is not much better. Couple that with the time it takes to get the kids to and from the store and it becomes an even bigger issue. Anthony and Shannon are older parents and many of their friends kids were much further ahead in child raising that hand-me-downs were not a thing and if they were blessed by some they were the wrong size or the wrong season.

Shannon’s original idea was that there should be a community of parents, all putting their outgrown clothes into a pot and everyone could swap as needed when their kids grew, or a new one comes along. Thinking on it a little longer and one night a lightbulb went off. She presented the idea and we ran with it. Knowing what we know about business we had multiple brainstorming sessions and finally ironed out the original details. We set out to solve multiple issues at once. Bring an affordable solution to parents clothing young kids who grow out of their “new” clothes seemingly weekly, save them a trip out into the world which involves packing up kids (everyone’s favorite), and get rid of the ever growing pile of clothes your child no longer fits in that’s taking up precious space while also keeping them out of a land fill.

Legacy Bundles and the Bundle Swap solves all three. With the Bundle Swap, each clothing item costs $1.30, which is over 60% cheaper than consignment 1month-3 months, and up to 85% cheaper on 3-5T. The Bundle Swap saves a trip to the store, those with kids understand how big of a deal this is. The Bundle Swap also helps mitigate the accumulation of clothes that follows growing children. Those clothes that no longer fit can be swapped for clothes that do, seems simple but the impact of this is enormous.

We knew this idea could help so many, with the raising prices of everything, people shouldn’t have to chose between food for their table and clothes that fit for their kids. To top it off, the Bundle Swap also helps with sustainability, keeping out grown clothing out of land fills, and in the hands of someone that still needs it.

This mission was one we could not pass on, so we’ve spent the last year brining it to life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We had kids older than many are these days and until having our own there were details I never paid attention to, one of them being all the different expenses that add up. There were some I was completely prepared for- food and medical bills being a couple. However, I never gave thought to the price of clothes; I figured I would utilize hand-me-downs. Sadly, because we are older our friends and family were so far ahead in kids ages their hand-me-downs did not work or are the wrong season.

Having a background in running a successful business and a problem solving mindset we set out to find a solution for ourselves. This solution became much bigger than just our household and our community. It developed into Legacy Bundles and the Bundle Swap that now servicing the entire continental U.S coat to coast.

We are extremely proud of the brand we have created but most importantly the foundation on which we have created it. It has been create by people raising kids, for people raising kids. We have thought of every obstacle or hurdle that these people face in the clothing niche of raising kids and attempted to alleviate some of those burdens; examples being: cost, time, seasons, door to door service, shipping included, no printing capabilities needed. This service is designed to be a tool for the customers, not a business for the owners.

How it works:
After purchase of desired Bundle on our website (www.bundleswap.com), Legacy Bundles sends you a pre-labeled postage bag delivered in your regular mail. Customer fills it with 30 items that meet our standards as listed on website. These items can be any size (0month-5T), any gender, and any season. Seal and mail back via USPS. Relax and track your package with provided tracking on label. Once we receive it Legacy Bundles will sort through clothes for quality check. Send us same quality clothes you would like in opening your Bundle: clean, hair free, oder free. (we are providing a high product for a lower cost at your convince) We will then fill your new Bundle with your selection and ship back to you.

You can swap as frequently as your kids closets need it and as often as your budget allows. We are proud to offer a product that is in all aspects benefiting the consumer.

There are several novelties to this program that any competitor does not have-

Legacy Bundles will accept any clothing season anytime even if it is summer and you send winter, it will be stored until needed and Legacy Bundles will send you what you request as long as you adhere to accepted guidelines listed on the website.

We do not put a monetary value on your clothes that limits how much you are able to spend moving forward. The only evaluation is that again, they meet the guidelines listed on the website.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Once we had narrowed down the problem we were going to solve and worked out the solution we began building the business. As owners of another business we started from scratch we knew we could have the best laid plans but nothing ever goes by the plan. And this assumption was right again. We started with pen and paper on how we wanted the website to look and function then set to work on how to make that actually happen.
We were introduced to a developer that seemed to have all the answers. We spent hours going over details, potential hurdles, ways to enhance the experience, ect. Excitement filled the air, it was June ’23 and we had been given an August ’23 launch date from developer.

We started taking care of details on our end: found a building, signed a lease, starting inventory, computers, staff, printers, warehouse set up, warehouse systems, ect. All while fielding developers questions and making adjustments as they questions came in.

August came and went… September…. November…. December…. We missed the entire holiday season. We had not been delivered the product from developer and were out $100,000. It was getting harder to get him on the phone and we went weeks without any actual product development happening. We were hemorrhaging money watching the bills pile up and the days, weeks, months pass by. All while knowing we had a business that was going to change the hand-me-down game for so many in a positive way. We had to make serious decisions and take action. We had everything invested- we were all in and had to make a pivot.

Anthony spent hours up late into the night after a full days work and a newborn in the house (yes a new baby in Jan) figuring out how to code and how to adjust our business model in a way that worked for the systems we could build. Our free moments with each other were spent discussing what he had figured out the night before, how that was different from our original thought and then taking that dialog back to the drawing board late the following night to come up with a launchable product.

After several weeks of this pattern he had done it!
It had some issues we continued to develop. But we had a platform we could launch!

Legacy Bundles is an amazing team. We have the on going support and when one of us wants to throw in the towel the others is there to pick it up, speak encouraging words and carry on. We learn, we pivot, we push forward.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

We originally met in middle school at a church function by a pond playing volleyball. We did the middle school / high school boyfriend girlfriend thing then Anthony graduated and went off to college, effectively ending that relationship. We both spent the next 15 years traveling the world, Anthony in the military, and Shannon in the Caribbean instructing scuba diving. We kept in touch and met up about once every 5 years when we were near each other. It wasn’t until Anthony was out of the military and started classes at the University of Michigan where we finally rekindled the flame. We both were coming out of our “warm up” marriages and Shannon was living in Grand Haven, Michigan and reached out to Anthony to congratulate him on getting into his dream school. Anthony went to visit her his first weekend at UM and we didn’t spend a weekend apart afterwards. We made the 3 hour (each way) trip every weekend, admittedly Shannon was doing most of the commuting, as we embarked on a new journey together. It wasn’t long after we rekindled that we realized our adventurous spirits together were going to take us places, and we opened our first business a year later. We’ve since moved countless times, back and forth across the country, completely renovated 5 houses, opened other businesses, sold said businesses, had two kids and finally put down roots where it all began, in the same small town where the pond is.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bundleswap.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legacybundlesllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/legacybundles/
• Other: tiktok: @legacy.bunles

Image Credits

We own 100% of the rights to these photos