[Voiceover]: On average, people have garbage bags of clothes in their boot from three to six months before they physically donate it. We're thinking about being habitual. We're thinking about making recycling and donating as intuitive as buying new clothes. We work with all the biggest sporting leagues for their uniforms. We work with schools, we work with corporates, we work with construction. It's a problem that everyone has. Nobody knows what to do about it. Welcome to Add to Cart Australia's leading e commerce podcast that express delivers all you need to know in the fast moving world of online retail. Here's your host, Bushy.
Nathan Bush: Welcome to ADD to Cart, Australia's leading e commerce podcast for e commerce professionals who never stop learning. We bring you insights from the top e commerce operators, founders and experts across Australia to help you drive results and grow your e commerce career. My name is Bushi joining you from the land of the terrible people here in Brisbane, Australia. How do you turn a sustainable problem into a scalable product and get major retailers to sell it in their checkout? Today's guest has a win, win win solution that I think is very clever. Today I am joined by Belinda Paul, founder of Recycle. That's Recycle. R C Y C L. Recycle is a social enterprise creating a circular economy one shopping cart at a time. Recycle enables customers to either choose a bag to recycle, donate or repair clothing via a simple add to cart option. It's already been picked up heavyweights like the iconic ENM and Belinda's managed to get full support from C Suite executives, including the iconic CEO to help bring the concept to life. In this chat, you're going to hear how Belinda went from a fashion industry insider to a sustainability innovator and how
Nathan Bush: a bushfire was the start of it all.
Nathan Bush: She tells us how she designed a product that retailers can actually profit from and be good for the environment. And why convenience, not guilt, is the
Nathan Bush: key to changing consumer behaviour.
Nathan Bush: Now, before we dive into today's episode, a quick reminder that expressions of interest are now open to join me and a bunch of other retailers on the Add to Cart tour to NRF APAC in Singapore this June. It's your chance to connect with an incredible group of retailers as we discover fresh ideas, some cutting edge innovation and build some really meaningful relationships across the Southeast Asian retail scene. Plus, we've packaged it up really well so that you get a store tour, networking events and your own presentation that
Nathan Bush: you can take back to the team
Nathan Bush: for less than the standard price of a ticket. If you are Keen to come along, head over to add to cart.comau to register your interest now. Thanks to our wonderful sponsors Shopify and Klaviyo for making this episode and our podcast possible. Let's talk circular fashion and smart e commerce with Belinda from Recycle.
Nathan Bush: Belinda, welcome to ADD to Cart.
[Voiceover]: Thanks, Nath. Nice to be here. Thank you.
Nathan Bush: Nice to have you here because we have been talking about this since Goodness, our Melbourne event last year, probably just before that. Why, why now? What's inspired you to take the leap? Because the invite's always been there.
[Voiceover]: I know, and I've sat on it and I wanted to give you some kind of juicy information, but I was waiting and waiting and I think that with a business like Recycle, there's so much happening at any given stage that I was just like, I just have to talk to you anyway and tell you all the juicy information and tell you all the updates because I can't wait. Everything in my world is so exciting.
Nathan Bush: That's awesome. I keep seeing the headlines, I keep seeing the PR and I'm like, linda, come on, you said you're going to come on and tell us about this. So we are going to unpack all of that today. But first, for people who may not know of Recycle, tell us what the concept is.
[Voiceover]: So Recycle is an add to cart option for all retailers to enable recycling and donating to their customers through a point of sale purchase. It's actually a product that sits at cart. We're about creating a circular economy and making it accessible to everyone. We all want to do something, but we just don't know how to do it. So Recycle enables us all to do something and impact the environment.
Nathan Bush: So I want to unpack how it actually works from a both a retailer's perspective and a customer's perspective. But probably what's fascinating me is, given your history in fashion, what was the moment that inspired you to go all in on this idea?
[Voiceover]: Thank you for asking that. I've had many years in the retail game. I've covered volume and production and manufacturing and international brand management. And it's awesome, right? We're all in this game because it's fast paced, it's dynamic, it's exciting, we're ahead of the trends all the time. It's unreal. It's an amazing industry to be part of, but the world has evolved and the environment has evolved. With that, my moment was we were caught in the bushfires, myself and the family in 2019, 2020. That summer and I kind of took it personally. I was sort of thinking at that time, you know, why am I here and why am I in a situation that's so out of control? And I came away from that and I thought, well, what skills do I have as an individual to make an immediate difference? And with that I thought, well, I'm a product developer. I can bring a product to market. I know the consumer. I get what brands are looking for, what their KPIs are, what you need to hit. And so how do I make that sexy in a fashion in which it can run alongside brands and champion brands so that they can offer a sustainability option to their customers without it making it look overwhelming or daunting or just blah.
Nathan Bush: And how did you understand that there was a need for almost from. As I understand at the moment, I'm sure that will evolve as our conversation happens. But to make that process easier for customers to return goods into that circular economy, how did you know that was the point that you could make an impact in?
[Voiceover]: Well, when you're working in retail, you're looking at the trends and we all know that online shopping is up and up and up and up and just growing at a rapid rate. So it's returns. And so for me it was, how do I enable a sustainable action to be integrated with existing business models? So when I go to brand partners and say to them, hey, what are you doing for your sustainability opportunities and how much is it costing you? A lot of businesses will say, hey, we did this, it cost us X amount and we didn't get really an outcome for it. So understanding their pain points, I'm going to them and saying, how can recycle be where the consumers are? How can recycle be where the transactions are? How do we make it easy so that if you offer it at add to cart, if you offer it to your consumers at a retail price and you're buying it at a wholesale price, it's a stock item. It fits slots straight in your stock offering. So I'm truly replicating a product that any other retailer will have on their online site and making it easy.
Nathan Bush: And where it hit me as a consumer was there is always that moment where you're like, I'm cleaning out my wardrobe or whatever it is, and I've got a few piles here, might be a donate pile, a throw pile, whatever it is. And you're like, I've done the hard work of cleaning the closet out and now I'm like left with these piles and I'm going to Wait to either drop them somewhere or I feel guilty about throwing them into the bin. That to me is a real pain point from a consumer perspective that moment. I think there's so many memes out there right on social media around people who carry around clothes ready to donate in the back of their car for months. So I think it's solving customer problem too.
[Voiceover]: It's a fact. So I have learned a lot in my journey. I'm first of all, I'm not a recycler, so I don't recycle the clothes. And I'm not a charity in the sense that I don't, you know, take the clothes on. But what I'm doing is I'm the conduit between the brands and the consumers to these back end partners. And what I have learned from the Salvos is who I partnered with the rewear bag is that on average people have garbage bags of clothes in their boot from three to six months before they physically donate it.
Nathan Bush: I believe it.
[Voiceover]: And so if this comes in your online parcel and you open it up and there's a bag for you to fill and there's a QR code on the back so that you just scan it, tells you where your closest drop off location is and you just hand it over and it fits up to 20 items and you do all of that while you've got your new garment or your new item and it's all in one transaction at home and you get rid of it. How good is that? You can just be.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that's awesome. So from a product perspective, so tell us about the retailers that are stocking at the moment.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. So we launched with Maya, which was pretty amazing. That was a fair while ago. So what they did is they put it into their flagship stores, but then they also elevated the brand by giving us a full visual merchandising activation through their flagship stores. And again, from somebody who's come out of the retail space, I thought that kind of huge amplification of brand was only allocated to big brands. And to walk into Maya and see all the lifts decaled with recycle and have, you know, six display units through the fashion floor was pretty phenomenal.
Nathan Bush: Do you remember selling that in? Because it would have been one of the first that you sold in the concept to. Was there something that you said or something that really resonated with them that kind of made that action happen and put that faith in you? Because, you know, it's a big deal for a new brand.
[Voiceover]: It's a massive deal. It's a massive deal for a new brand, but a new concept as well. That's unheard of. First of all, we're asking people to recycle their clothes and paying for it. Asking people to donate their clothes and paying for it, that's unheard of. I just said give us a go. You know, this is a problem everyone faces. We all just don't know what to do about it. But I think the key is, coming from a retail background is that I wanted to create a system and create a product offering that went to the sustainability manager and they go, yeah, I love it. But then it can go further to the CFO and they go, oh, actually I'm not paying anything for it. I'm actually making and creating a revenue source, albeit small, but it's not costing the business anything. And I think those are the two things that all businesses want to hear, right? Yeah. I keep saying it like everyone's looking for a sustainable option. Nobody knows how to do it, let alone do it and make a small revenue from it.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That ticks a lot of boxes. And so you got the first, first kind of traction with Maya. Where did you go from there?
[Voiceover]: I think the term, what, overnight success takes place five years or something. I've only been in business for just over three years and late last year we launched on the Iconic, as you said, and that was massive. We've got massive plans for that partnership. It's very humbling and to understand that the C suite are actually backing it as a concept. It was launched to market via Jerry Karms, who's the CEO. He personally went out and spoke to media and launched the press release himself again. So amazing. And I think it's just that they could see the opportunity. They could see again online E commerce being at the point of transaction. They could see those opportunities. So yeah, that's a pretty big win.
Nathan Bush: And what kind of customer take up rate are you getting at the moment from brands like the Iconic? How many customers are choosing to add a recycle bag to their car?
[Voiceover]: We're going in the right direction. So I think the best parts are yet to come. I have to say, like, we are still learning about the backend mechanics. We're still learning about the best message. We are trialing different sort of test runs here, there and everywhere. So I think with any partnership it's also important to say that it's not a stock standard model for each business. It has to be integrated, standard, seamlessly through each individual business and also depend on what Their objectives are in that business. So I think it's all about learning and, you know, sustainability is a massive journey because it's not perfect. And I think first and foremost, one of my biggest challenges as a brand was to make sure that people trusted my brand when they saw it. And so I've worked really, really hard on that. And so having big brand partners to launch the brand was super important to me.
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Nathan Bush: That's awesome. And do I understand, right, that there are two different types of bags customers can buy or is there more than that?
[Voiceover]: Yeah. So we launched with Recycle. So that's where you have a pile of unwearable clothes on your floor. They're the T shirts that have worn through, they're the uniforms, they're your sports gear that has lost the Lycra in it. That's all the stuff.
Nathan Bush: So you would never, ever want anyone else to go into it all.
[Voiceover]: You don't want anyone to see it, you don't want anyone to touch it, you don't want anyone to be next to it. Throw it in a bag and get rid of it. So that's recycled and how much is that bag? So there's two versions. There's a small bag which fits up to six garments. So that's your quick clean. Whatever you find in your wardrobe, throw it in a bag, get rid of it. If you have a larger wardrobe, which we are all gaining excess as we speak, we've got a larger bag that fits again, up to 20 items and you just throw them in and get rid of it. Okay, we're thinking about being habitual. We're thinking about making recycling and donating as intuitive as buying new clothes. We're thinking about, when you get something in, why don't we get something out and cleanse and feel good about it? Because we're doing it responsibly we're doing it for the planet and we're doing it for our wardrobes.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. And is that. Are they set at a set price for every retailer or can a retailer set their own price on them?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, no, it is a set price. It is a set recommended retail price only because there's not a lot of fat, because my overheads are freight and processing. And so I need to make sure that I have enough margin for the retailer. I have enough margin to cover my costs. And I also have to make sure that the recommended retail price is digestible at point of sale. That was super important to me to make sure that wasn't going to get laughed out of the cart. You know, the uptake has to happen.
Nathan Bush: You want to make it an easy upsell.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. So the rewear bag, which is the outer pack. Sorry. And that's the big one. That's only $8.95.
Nathan Bush: Okay.
[Voiceover]: And so the idea is that it's just a quick add to cart. Like everyone's got stuff that they want to donate, especially if you're updating, you know, your color palette or your silhouettes or whatever it may be. All these fashion people, they're constantly updating. So let's get rid of it all and give it to a really good cause of Salvos. And then we are just about to launch repair.
Nathan Bush: Ah, nice.
[Voiceover]: So in addition to the pile of clothes that we have that we don't want anyone to touch that needs to go in the bin that we feel too guilty to put in the bin.
Nathan Bush: Yes.
[Voiceover]: We've got the pile of clothes that are set for the charity shop, but we don't ever get there. We also have a pile of clothes that needs a hem or a zipper plate or a button. And so we've partnered with an amazing business called hello Taylor. They were a finalist for the ebay Circular Fashion Fund this year and they've got the whole tech process behind the scenes. So we've brought in our logistics, put in their tech, and we're launching this to market in the next week.
Nathan Bush: Look out. So where does the repaired items go then?
[Voiceover]: So we have partnered with Social Enterprises through Victoria and New South Wales as a pilot run. Love the opportunity to give back to social enterprise. I'm actually a social enterprise myself, but my criteria is 100% for impact. Their criteria, obviously, is giving back to the community, giving jobs to people who have got an amazing skill set that we just don't see in Australia at mass anymore.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, great. Okay. And so my head's spinning at Some of the logistics that you're dealing with. So let's go with Recycle first. Actually, let's start with the customer journey first. Let's go scanning a QR code and dropping these off. Who have you partnered with there to make sure that those drop off points are as convenient as possible?
[Voiceover]: Yep, absolutely. So we partnered with Hubbed, Parcelpoint and again, I'm just replicating the language that everyone, all retailers use. Hubbed deal with thousands of retailers, they've got thousands of drop off locations around Australia and it's just talking their language.
Nathan Bush: We had David on a couple of years ago now and I love the model, right. I love the model of turning convenience stores, petrol stations, news agents into community hubs that can be used for picking up parcels, dropping off, you know, packages like this. I think it's such a smart use of space that solves a real customer problem.
[Voiceover]: Absolutely. However, we've had to broaden our horizons as well. So if we want to go wider, we use Sendal. Sendal will be our preferred partner for repair because unlike Recycle, that's not time dependent. Repair is time dependent, which means that we're paying premium freight rates to get it.
Nathan Bush: Why is it time dependent?
[Voiceover]: Because if you want a repair and you pop it into the post or the hub system, into the freight system, you're not going to wait six months to get it back. You want it back within three weeks max. It is freight rate from the customer to the repair center and then from the repair center straight back to your door.
Nathan Bush: Wow, I missed that part before in our conversation around that the repaired item actually comes back to the person, doesn't get passed then on to charity. That's how I had in my head. So I think that's amazing service. And how are you going to charge for that? Because if you take, you know, hems to be done, buttons to replace, whatever it is to a tailor, that's going to cost 20 to $50, I'm assuming, putting numbers out there. How are you going to sell those?
[Voiceover]: So it, the bag actually costs 1995 and that covers your freight and then in addition to that, it will be dependent on what repair you need. And so yes, it is more expensive, but it's sort of the same scenario with everything. It's almost like you have to pay a fee for accessibility. Easy. And I know myself and everyone we've spoken to, if I had a garment and it has been sitting in my closet for six months and I haven't worn it, the options are you probably would go out and buy something new. However, if we're talking in a sustainable fashion, it's actually better for the environment if you hold onto that garment and wear it and love it for as long as you possibly can.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. The convenience factor to me is absolutely huge in just ticking items off a list of things that you go, I've got to get to that, I've got to get to that. There's a huge benefit there. Makes a lot of sense. Moving back to the recycle piece, where do you send all your items to be recycled, disposed of in the correct manner? Because I think there's, you know, genuine confusion around how to do this properly and people are wary of greenwashing. How do you make sure that it is all done the right way?
[Voiceover]: So true. So I've got my retail hat on right now and if I was to go to a buyer and say, hey, I want to recycle your clothes, the first thing I'm going to say is, where is your modern slavery? Where's your ethical sourcing certifications? Where is your factory audits? And so they're the things that I, they're non negotiable for my partners. I have to say also that when I started the business that the only opportunity was to go offshore. So I partnered with a third party who had an Indian mill and so they have had a relationship with this Indian mill for 30 odd years. They've come out of the fashion industry and so they've given back the garments for them to deconstruct and re spin into new yarn or if the fibers are synthetic, they actually needle punch it down to like a carpet underlay or a felt. And I was like, that's pretty amazing. So everything is physically used. If we think about India as a market, that's their skill set, that's their strength. However, the Australian landscape is just evolving at such a rapid rate. Advanced manufacturing technology, machines coming onshore are happening often and so it's part of my job to have my finger on the pulse, to make sure that I know about all the different recyclers that are in the market at the moment, what their specialty is, what fibres they use, what they can actually recycle and what they can't. So that again, I believe it's my responsibility to make sure that I'm giving the right input to them to make sure that they can thrive in their business. So it's a constantly evolving space, I think, and I would almost put my hand on heart love to say that next year, but with the way that the whole industry is moving, it will be up and running at scale in Australia. That's what I would love to see.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that makes sense. What's the most innovative way that you've seen fashion be recycled?
[Voiceover]: That's an interesting question because even though I've been in and talking to all the recyclers, I'm not the one who's doing it.
Nathan Bush: Yeah.
[Voiceover]: So suppose if I can take that question and say, what's the most innovative way that I've spruced recycling to the market. So we've partnered with Mirvac shopping centres and in their retail precincts for the last couple of years and what we've done is taken recycling into shopping centres and saying to everyone who's coming into the center, hey, look at all this stuff that we're all sitting on. Again, it doesn't have to be overwhelming or daunting. How about we just accept it as part of our transaction, as part of us buying new clothes, and really celebrate the fact that if you come in and put something in the pile to recycle, then you get a discount code for the center or whatever it may be. So I think it is really just being creative and putting it into the public space in a really fun and exciting way. With Melbourne Fashion Week, we work with Melbourne Fashion Festival, we go to all the places that we know everyone wants to be in part of the fashion world. So our tagline is Fashion A better Future?
Nathan Bush: Yeah, I love it, I love it.
Nathan Bush: Are you seeing people like the Iconic incorporate really interesting messages around the product? Because obviously the Iconic do their sustainability report, which is a fantastic publication, but they do, they do a lot more than that. But have you seen them incorporated into the customer journey in a really interesting way?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, I think, again, that's all yet to come. I think we're too early. I think when you're offering something at Add to Cart that the customer is still curious about, it's about learning that feedback before you go to the next step. I mean, retailers and marketplaces are doing a lot, just as I said before, ebay, launching their Circular Fashion fund. And that was only announced and the Owen from hello Taylor was a finalist and also an awesome guy called Nate and he has put together a platform called Shop Front so that the consumer can go in.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, we had him on last month.
[Voiceover]: You did? Yeah. Yeah, he's awesome. I mean, how lucky and amazing are we as everyday consumers to have access to these super cool ideas that are going to just make it all so much easier for us?
Nathan Bush: Yeah, no, that's awesome. I'm even my head spinning, right, to kind of go, if you're a retailer and I'm not selling this for you, you can sell it well enough yourself. But I'm like looking at those bags, they pretty much have an unlimited shelf life, right? So they're not, they're not seasonal, they don't go off, they're small, they're brilliant as an upsell or a post sell. So if I think about from a customer's journey, even whether it's at the checkout to be able to upsell into that bag, which the retailer's still making some margin on, and increasing the basket size, or even to re engage a customer post. So you think about, hey, hope you're enjoying this jacket, whatever it is. If you found out that you've got no room left in your wardrobe or you've got items left over, we've got a really cool solution for you. Come back and buy it from us. And hopefully while you buy in there, you'll buy some other stuff because you've cleared out a lot of room in your wardrobe.
[Voiceover]: It's kind of endless how we can be creative about it. And that's the fun of it.
Nathan Bush: Yeah.
[Voiceover]: The branding is bold, it's colorful. Because I knew that I was going for gold location at point of sale. It has to capture people's attention. But whether it be a product, whether it be an upsell, whether it be part of your loyalty program, whether we are included in your packaging, and so that when your freight bags go out to all of your online customers, it can have a QR code so that the customer can opt in if they would like to. So they've got the freight bag, they can use that bag for a second life.
Nathan Bush: So it doesn't even have to be your bag, just your QR code. That's interesting.
[Voiceover]: So really pushing the boundaries, just going, let's have some fun like it's an untapped space in terms of bringing this to the consumer. And so let's go far and wide, let's have some fun. Let's put it in their lap, wherever they may be, and let's just make something happen. Because if I recycle 1 kg of my old clothing, that's 1 kg that doesn't go into landfill. And Australia actually is the highest consuming nation in the world. And so when we think about that and when we think about the amount of textile waste that goes into our landfills, and then we think about the cyclones, and then we think about the bushfires and then we think about the droughts and the floods. It's almost like, how do we not feel overwhelmed by that? We want to freeze. We want to just stop in our tracks. But if we make it fun, if we make it accessible, and if we make it so that I can do something and feel empowered as an individual, yeah, I'm going to do that.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. And I suppose that comes back to your story around the bushfire and, you know, you feeling powerless, I suppose, and taking back the power to do something about it.
[Voiceover]: Look, I can only try, right? Get out and go.
Nathan Bush: I love it. What's your opinion on. You mentioned the Australia being the highest consumer, and I'm assuming that's per capita. What's your opinion on fast fashion? Obviously, going through this process is fast fashion the way it's produced in terms of the material waste and impact on the environment, not so much the ethical sourcing and manufacture, but the output of it? Is it worse than standard fashion, for lack of a better word? Is there a difference? Or can you actually recycle both materials as effectively?
[Voiceover]: So I think the way that I'm going to answer that question is that more and more retailers are using maybe cheaper fibers to manufacture their garments. So we're seeing a lot more polyester in the market. We're seeing a lot more synthetics in the market than what we're used to. And so, yes, they can be recycled. But you will also see retailers and amazing, like, you know, every sustainable initiative that any business puts out there to the market is amazing and it should be celebrated because at least we're doing something. So we're seeing a lot more of recycled polyester in the market. It's just the way of the world. Right? Fast fashion will use polyester. It's a cheap fiber. And we're in a moment right now that fast fashion is a thing. My opinion on that is that rather than come at a problem from the top down and try and hold it or try and, you know, push it down, we've got so much waste that's existing in what we live and breathe at the moment. So my take on it is to sort of go up and so drive the consumer up and just say, well, again, just not be overwhelmed by it. Like, just do something. Because if you want to buy something from a fast fashion brand, you will. Nobody can stop you. Consuming is a thing. It's in our DNA now. Yes, I hope to see it slow, but you can't tell somebody to not buy something. You can tell somebody to offset that purchase you can do something better or you can be educated about what happens in the back end. And it's not perfect, but it's something. And you can act now and we can do it immediately and feel good about it.
Nathan Bush: Are you getting a lot of support from your fashion colleagues and contacts throughout the industry?
[Voiceover]: Everyone's curious. Yes, Everyone is so curious about this. I speak to a lot of people. All of my conversations across the board are always positive. Super positive. I love it. Everyone I love, I love it. B, I love recycle. I love what it stands for. Super curious. I think what we need to do is obviously expand our distribution. I think that will absolutely help. You know, doing events like this, doing events like Retail Fest, you know, talking on various different podcasts and panels and so forth, it's just getting the brand out there. But again, like, I bring it back down to everyone wants to do something, they just don't know how to do it. And one of the first questions that retailers and my friends, my network ask me is why people? Why will they pay for it? But we all absolutely will pay for it because it's accessible, it's convenient, and it's actually empowering.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. To me, I would pay $9 every time to move goods on out of my life and not feel guilty about it.
[Voiceover]: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: But that's just me.
[Voiceover]: Me too.
Nathan Bush: Yeah.
[Voiceover]: So I thought if I like it and if you like it, let's just put it to market.
Nathan Bush: And look, if retailers can make a bit of money out of it, then, you know, probably a win. Win.
[Voiceover]: Yep.
Nathan Bush: So is that your biggest challenge at the moment is distribution through retailers?
[Voiceover]: Yeah. So again, with my retail hat on, I try to eliminate every pain point because I would have asked all the hard questions myself. And so if I can say it's a stock item goes into your inventory, it's got a barcode on it, you make margin on it. You can track your sell throughs, you can track your impact. All that data comes through to you. You can put it in your newsletter as a marketing message because your consumer wants to know what you're doing. And as much as changing the lights in your warehouse is an amazing thing, that's not that sexy.
Nathan Bush: That's true. And it's also just not solving a customer problem. Like, yeah, you can change your lights but no one will see it except for you. So, yeah, it's not that sexy. What's the main objection you get then?
[Voiceover]: There isn't any really main objections. It's just when you're talking to retailers and I have come from big brands. So my natural reaction was to go straight to the top and nobody makes a decision quickly. So it took two years to get into the iconic and as a small business, that's not sustainable in itself. So then the mindset changed to how do we enable all businesses, all, all ecom businesses to have access to this because smaller businesses and medium businesses don't have the budget to allocate to sustainable options. So how do they just do an easy plugin at their checkout, offer it to their customer, we'll drop ship it for them and so they get all the wins.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, and there's a bit of a flywheel to this, isn't it, that you need the distribution on this happening so that you can build the customer facing brand to fully explain how it works and what the benefits are to customers. So they kind of work hand in hand. So the more retailers you have and the more visibility is that you can tell more of the story to a customer facing network so that when they see it in the cart that it's a no brainer because you don't want that make me think moment, especially in the checkout.
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[Voiceover]: Absolutely. And if I hear the term chicken and egg one more time in my life, I don't know. It's the truth though, you know, again, new concept, new to market, put it in, your customers want it. And for me, again, going into ebay as a store, going into the iconic, working alongside them, having our stint at mia, we work with all the biggest sporting leagues for their uniforms. We work with schools, we work with corporates, we work with construction. It's a problem that everyone has. Nobody knows what to do about it. And how do you pass on that message to your customer, whether it be your staff or your community. It's just, you know, we're trying to make it as easy as possible.
Nathan Bush: You're doing an awesome job. I've been following the journey very closely and seeing all the amazing awards that you're winning in recognition for the idea. But what I'm hearing from you is, yes, it's one thing for people to go, yes, it's a bloody good idea, well done. It's another thing to have a business that's pumping so you can do all the things and make the impact that you want to have. Are you getting any government support along the way as well?
[Voiceover]: No, not yet. And I've not gone down the grant or funding route as yet. For me, again, with my retail hat on, it's like, where do I put my energies? You know, my bandwidth has a limited span and I would love to see it retail, you know, front facing, consumer facing and let the recyclers do what they do now before sort of putting that energy into a what if, a maybe.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Have you found any core customers that are just your exact target market, that just get the concept, that buy into it, that use it? Like, is there any really sweet spot for you from a consumer perspective?
[Voiceover]: It's a bit of a cop out, this answer, but it's everyone like we see it from the mums who have got small babies who are getting rid of all their clothes to the mums who have got kids in primary or high school have got uniforms. We see it with workwear that the guys are going through all their hy vees and their workwear and they just need to get rid of it to their socks. You know, how many socks with holes do we all have in our wardrobes? But then also on the flip side, the guy guys love it because it is so simple. It falls in their lap. If they were sitting on five different shirts and there's a seam that splits, been split or the cuff has been frayed, they go out and buy new shirts. That's it. Nothing happens with the old ones. It's really interesting, I think when we run promotions and we do events and things like that, that's where we're testing and piloting all the time and we hit the mark, we hit our expectations, you know, because it's a problem that we all have.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, absolutely. All right, so next 12 months we've got the repair bag launching very shortly. What else is on the radar for you?
[Voiceover]: I think just running alongside industry. I'm part of Seamless, which is an Australian Fashion Council initiative to reduce landfill and to bring in sustainable practices across the retail and the fashion industry. I work really, really closely with them and they've Got some big plans and that's super exciting. Again, working alongside the Australian Fashion Council as well. You know, these guys are at the forefront of all the change that needs to happen. And I think, for me, it's a prerequisite for the consumer to trust my brand when they see it, because, as you said, you've got that split second in which you add it to your checkout and that people have to commit. So I need to make sure that I have the right people around me, I have the right businesses around me, that we work in funds and spaces, because that's where I want to be and you want to be. It's just. Yeah, look, I'm excited. Every day something else falls in my life.
Nathan Bush: Oh, I love it, like. And even I'm just thinking that before Black Friday and that silly peak season, like, there is such an opportunity for someone to own, whether it's an afterpay or someone like that, to own the great wardrobe, clean out or something along those lines, to encourage people, even if they're not shopping Black Friday. And obviously you don't want to go out with the message to say, hey, clean up your wardrobe so you can buy heaps more shit. It's like. But there is a moment in time to incite that action. Someone can own that with you, Right?
[Voiceover]: No, I've given it all away. No, I mean, that's an awesome idea and it's true, but I think I also have to be really, really careful because I toe a very fine line between being a retailer and being a sustainable business. And so whilst I don't condone buying in excess, I understand that everyone does and will, and you can't stop that. So it's almost like understanding your landscape, understanding who you're working with, hitting that message as clear as you possibly can to say, well, if you're buying something and I can't stop you from doing that, how about you be responsible in a different fashion? How about you are educated in a different way? How about we put it in your life so that you can actually make a difference yourself and, again, feel good for it?
Nathan Bush: I love it. It's great. Brilliant. Brilliant. So I will encourage all retailers who are listening, if you're in fashion, to get in touch with Belinda. Belinda, what is the best way. You mentioned that you're going to be at Retail Fest. I'm going to be there too, so hopefully we get to catch up there. What is the best way for everyone to reach out and get in touch if they're interested, Especially if you're A fashion retailer. You want to add this into the checkout?
[Voiceover]: Yes. Hit me up jump on the website, put your details into and subscribe to the newsletter. Mention the fact that you saw me and you having a chat at Add to cart and I'll shoot you out a sample pack so that you can touch and feel the tangible bag so you can understand it. That's the best way for you to get your head around the concept.
Nathan Bush: Love it. Cool. All right, mention Add to cart when you get in touch with Belinda and you will get a sample bag and then you will love it so much that you'll add it to your site and that you will save thousands of garments going to landfill. All right, Belinda, thank you so much for joining us today. That was awesome to catch up. Long overdue and I can guarantee that I reckon by the time we get to Retail Fest, you're going to have another. Another three stories for me of other retailers that you brought on like it's moving fast.
[Voiceover]: I guarantee that too. Thanks, Nate.
Nathan Bush: Belinda's built one of the most clever e commerce products and sustainability products that I've seen in a long time. It's a really powerful reminder that innovation doesn't always have to come from tech. I mean, we're talking bags here. Sometimes it's really about solving the obvious problem in a smart, scalable way where everyone wins. Belinda's definitely done this and I hope that she can get more traction within our industry. Three tips from that episode. Number one, solve for the wardrobe pile up. We've all got that bag of clothes sitting in the boot or the hallway waiting to be donated. I literally had to get a bag out before that. Recording recycled taps into that customer pain point when a customer is shopping for something new, which creates the behavioral change trigger of in with the new, out with the old. Think about the emotional friction that your customers feel post purchase. If you could offer a complimentary product or service at checkout. That removes guilt, adds value, sparks action and all the while keeps them excited about what you're delivering them. Isn't that an amazing win? Bonus points if it aligns with your existing brand values. Number two, make sustainability a sellable sku. Belinda designed Recycle to work like any other sku. Barcoded, inventoried, with margin built in. And that's what unlocked traction with giants like Maya. And the iconic sustainability initiatives. Don't have to live in a CSR report. They can exist on your PDP if you want. Buying from big retail partners make your purpose LED ideas commercially viable. Can it be stocked tracked and sold. Can it drive market margin and meaning? After all, we're talking to retailers here. Number three, convenience always wins. Belinda's team are now rolling out a repair bag where customers can post damaged garments, have them fixed and get them returned without leaving the house. It's sustainable but more importantly, it's convenient. If you're building retention, think beyond discounts. What services could you offer, post purchase that add value and keep your customers coming back? Convenience and service often beats price when it's done right. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider it with a friend or a colleague, especially one who's interested in innovation around sustainability. And if you have time, if you have 10 seconds, leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcast. It goes a long way of course. A big shout out to our sponsors Shopify and Klaviyo for helping bring this episode to life. Thanks again for listening. And until next time, keep those customers adding to cart.
