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Renewal Workshop to invest $5.5M for expansion in Europe

16
Dec '19

(L-R) Tamara Zwart, Jeff Denby, Nicole Bassett, Dave Russell. Pic: Jesse Kraal/PR Newswire

The Renewal Workshop has announced a $5.5 million Series A financing round and expansion into Europe. The Renewal Workshop, headquartered in the US, is a leading provider of circular solutions for apparel and textile brands. The company is organised around the idea that businesses have multiple responsibilities for generating positive, lasting value.

The round is led by European venture capital and impact investors Social Impact Ventures, Shift Invest, and Quadia with participation from existing US investors Closed Loop Ventures, Gratitude Railroad, Portland Seed Fund, and High Meadows investment group, the company said in a press release.

The apparel industry’s take-make-waste cycle is turning circular with the rise of recommerce. This is changing the game for brands who see their products resold on third-party sites. The Renewal Workshop enables brands to be a driving force in this transition, with a complete solution that not only manages the collection, renewal, and quality of a brand’s damaged or used garments, but also the back-end of the brand’s own recommerce site. This allows brands to engage directly with customers in their own branded second-sale channel.

The Renewal Workshop operates a zero-waste circular system that recovers the full value out of what has already been produced. Brand partners receive impact data on the amount of water, carbon, and chemicals that are saved through their partnership. To date, over two hundred thousand pounds of apparel have been diverted from waste in this system.

“The Renewal Workshop has proven their circular model for renewal and recommerce can not only drive sales and customer engagement for brands but also have significant environmental impact. As investors we were drawn to this strong alignment between commerce and impact and are excited to see The Renewal Workshop scale up,” Eske Scavenius, senior investment manager of Social Impact Ventures said.

With the investment, The Renewal Workshop opened the first European renewal facility in Amsterdam, offering their entire suite of services to European apparel brands, from circular business model strategy to garment and textile renewal services and recommerce management.

With co-founder Nicole Bassett leading US operations, the company continues to expand in Cascade Locks, Oregon, to serve its US-based brand partners such as The North Face, Mara Hoffman, Prana, and Coyuchi.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)

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