Archive is taking its success across the pond.
The technology platform for branded resale has partnered with Advance Clothing Solutions (ACS), a UK circular and sustainable fashion fulfillment hub, to offer brands cleaning, repair and fulfillment of secondhand items on a branded resale marketplace. ACS will utilize Archive’s resale operations technology to “maximize profitability” and enhance efficiency for brands embracing circular practices.
The North Face and Pangaia are the first brands in the UK to leverage the partnership.
Related Stories
“Think of ACS as the logistics partner or the 3PL; they’re handling intake, sorting, deciding which things are viable for resale and helping determine what needs cleaning or repairing and then actually doing the cleaning and repairing,” Emily Gittins, CEO and co-founder of Archive, told Sourcing Journal. “They’re world leaders in the management of single-SKU inventory and really incredible at getting as many items back into use as possible.”
While Archive is focused on the software piece of resale, Gittins continued, outsourcing to ACS keeps the company focused on its mission: to equip brands with the tools and software needed to run a profitable resale business. Essentially, Archive took its already existing model of working with logistics partners and tweaked it to work in the UK.
“What’s really exciting for brands is that, The North Face, for example, doesn’t have to start from square one in any region because we’re using the same software to manage the operation in a different part of the world,” Gittins said. “So, all those learnings have been re-created in the UK in the exact same way, but with a different logistics partner.”
As for ACS, the relationship with Archive marks a “pivotal moment” in the reverse logistics provider’s resale journey, according to its CEO, Andrew Rough, as he considers the move a “game changer” for the UK fashion sector, who’s circular efforts and secondhand marketplaces are quickly gaining momentum.
ACS handles the reverse logistics process from its specialized, 200,000-square-foot hub, enabling brands and retailers to join the circular economy. The B Corp has specialized in rental fulfillment and clothing renewal for the past 25 years and implements sustainable cleaning and repair solutions to the 400,000 orders it processes each year.
The collaboration also allows The North Face and Pangaia to “own” their resale channels in the UK as well, Rough said.
“The alternative is allowing resale to happen on third-party marketplaces; we think of ‘ownership’ as having a branded experience where there’s an option for customers to engage with, we sell through your brand directly,” Gittins elaborated. “Archive and ACS are completely behind the scenes, and there’s a feeling of ownership because the brand has all the data and is owning that customer experience.”
Here’s how it works: Archive’s proprietary resale software “ingests” a brand’s product data—like condition and if the garment needs to be cleaned or repaired—to funnel the product into the correct channel. If everything looks good, the item is listed for sale on a branded resale marketplace. If it’s not up to snuff, it’s rerouted for recycling or donation.
Take Pangaia, for example. The B Corp launched its resale program, ReWear, last fall as the first peer-to-peer marketplace to leverage digital IDs. Now, in light of the program’s expansion, Pangaia’s resale-relevant inventory will be sent to ACS for renewal and resale on Rewear, which Archive powers.
“Our goal is to make a really holistic experience for brands where you can have all of these different sources of supply in one buying experience,” Gittins said.
In the same vein, Archive and ACS will process, clean, repair and resell inventory from The North Face to launch its Renewed program in the UK.
“The North Face [has] seen the success of their program in the U.S. and wanted to be able to offer it to customers in different regions,” Gittins said. “And they’ve thought a lot about their holistic sustainability strategy across the entire brand, and they wanted to have consistency across markets, so it just felt like a natural progression to expand to new markets and the UK was an obvious starting point.”
As consumer demand for resale grows—Statista found that 60 percent of online shoppers purchased a secondhand item in the past year, with 29 percent of online shoppers saying they bought a pre-owned clothing item in the past 12 months—Archive wants to position itself as the preferred platform for brands, as it supports a variety of resale models that brands can toggle between as they scale their recommerce programs.
“Archive is focused on building this incredibly flexible and powerful technology for brand-owned resale,” Gittins said. “We’re partnering with the world-leading 3PLs and repair experts to handle logistics. It’s really cool to see how many brands are wanting to expand to new regions.”
