A Madewell And ThredUP Thrift Store Grows In Brooklyn

Madewell and ThredUP have collaborated to open A Circular Store at 89 N. 6th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. All products in the store are gently loved items from the Madewell brand, sourced by ThredUP. It’s a limited edition extension of the online Madewell Forever resale experience and marks the first time consumers can shop a full assortment of pre-owned Madewell, mend and tailor clothes and pass them on responsibly, all in one place.

Madewell Forever, the brand’s resale platform launched in July, is powered by ThredUp’s Resale as a Service. The collaboration deepened Madewell’s commitment to circularity and its existing partnership with ThredUP, becoming ThredUp’s first RaaS client to launch a 360-resale platform that allows its community to both clean out their closets and shop secondhand.

Madewell worked closely with thredUP to develop a unique, white-labeled resale channel including a digital shop – the first of its kind enabled by thredUP’s RaaS program.

The temporary brick and mortar store is filled with hundreds of styles ranging in price from $10 to $40. Customers for the first time can access the full range of Madewell categories beyond simply denim, and expanding into dresses, jackets and more.

Education is at the forefront of the store with statistics about fashion waste and steps for creating a circular wardrobe. Impactful displays and touchpoints in the store are meant to inspire consumers to extend the life of garments. QR codes at each station offer a deeper dive into how to buy, wear, care for, and pass on your clothes for the health of the planet.

The shop will host educational programming that speaks to the future of fashion with talks from local designers and sustainable brands on topics including upcycling, and repair workshops with Patagonia’s Worn Wear team.

An in-store mending station gives consumers the opportunity to get some TLC for their garments and have them expertly repaired on site. Visitors can have clothes purchased in the store tailored to fit perfectly, while keeping garments in the circular economy and reducing the consumption of new styles, ThredUP said.

The store will come full circle with ThredUp supplying clean out kits in the store to help consumers keep their clothes in use and out of landfills.

“We launched A Circular Store to reflect the future of circular fashion,” said Pooja Sethi, senior vice president and general manager of Retail as a Service, or RaaS, at ThredUP. “It’s one in which we reuse more than we produce new, and extend the life of clothes by making clothes to last, shopping secondhand, mending, and passing clothes on responsibly. 

“Everything for sale in the store is secondhand Madewell sourced from thredUP. We’re excited to test and learn with this location, and Madewell is the perfect partner given our long standing relationship and shared commitment to extending the life of clothing.”