On this episode of Honest Ecommerce, we have Amelia Trumble. Amelia is an Ecommerce lifer, who is most now the CEO of Retold Recycling (and still doing some digital / e-commerce consulting on the side!). We talk about building a sustainable brand, ensuring cost-effective & trackable returns process, the real value of customer connection, and so much more!
Amelia Trumble is the CEO and one of the three Founders of Retold Recycling. Amelia is an Australian native who moved to New York 15 years ago to work as an ecommerce professional.
While at Estee Lauder running ecommerce for MAC Cosmetics, she met her 2 Retold co-founders, Alan Yeoh and Noelle Sadler. Together the 3 ideated on starting a business that would do good things for the world and get them out of the corporate grind - after an “a-ha moment” decluttering her closets, the idea for Retold was born.
A convenient and mail-based textile recycling service that diverts unwanted items away from landfills and recycles them sustainably! In addition to being the CEO of Retold, Amelia also consults on the side for businesses seeking ecommerce strategy - predominantly in the beauty, fashion and obviously, sustainability space.
Amelia now resides in LA with her 5 year old daughter, Alta!
In This Conversation We Discuss:
Resources:
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Amelia Trumble
Honestly, I can't say a bad thing about Shark Tank except that it probably took a couple of years of my life actually being in the tank that day but, totally worth it.
Chase Clymer
Welcome to Honest Ecommerce, a podcast dedicated to cutting through the BS and finding actionable advice for online store owners. I'm your host, Chase Clymer. And I believe running a direct-to-consumer brand does not have to be complicated or a guessing game.
On this podcast, we interview founders and experts who are putting in the work and creating real results.
I also share my own insights from running our top Shopify consultancy, Electric Eye. We cut the fluff in favor of facts to help you grow your Ecommerce business.
Let's get on with the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Honest Ecommerce.
Today, I'm welcoming the show Amelia Trumble. She is the CEO at Retold Recycling.
She's an Ecommerce lifer and we're here to chat about her business. How are you doing today?
Amelia Trumble
Great. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me on.
Chase Clymer
Oh, I'm excited to chat. So if I'm listening to this and I don't know, retold recycling, what's the elevator pitch? What's the type of product you guys are offering over there?
Amelia Trumble
Well, if we're talking through elevator pitch, I like to always say, “What do you do with your old socks and underwear when they're not fit for purpose anymore?” And the answer most people give is, “Well, I throw them in the trash, of course.”
And then that always brings up the conversation of textile-based landfills, because most people just aren't aware that they're contributing.
So Retold is a service that my co-founders and I set up. We launched in 2020 and it's a really easy and convenient way to recycle your unwanted clothing and any household items directly from your home.
You order our bags from our DTC website. Fill them up with all of the things that you don't want anymore. It comes with a label attached so it's super easy just to pop in the post, send it off to us and we make sure nothing goes to landfill.
Chase Clymer
That's amazing. Alrighty.
Take me back in time. Where does this story start?
Amelia Trumble
Well, it depends if you want to focus on the Ecomm story or the retail story. But this is an Ecomm podcast, maybe I can talk a little bit about my career. So as you said in the intro, I'm a bit of an Ecomm lifer. My first job out of university was actually working for a very small DTC gardening website startup back in Australia.
So your first e-comm job where you're updating a CMS and trying to work out how to do your site refreshes and publish and all of that kind of good stuff. And since then I've had many different digital roles, but predominantly worked in Ecommerce.
Back when I was living in Australia, I headed up Ecomm for a very large beauty retailer there called Mecca Beauty. And they had a couple of different sites at the time so I oversaw all of that in a kind of general management role in terms of owning the P&L, owning the site experience, and owning customer service.
Multiple arms there, but I got a bit of an itch to get off the island. So I decided to move to New York and I was very, very lucky to secure a role in the online division of Estee Lauder. And I started working on MAC Cosmetics and I was on MAC for my whole tenure at Lauder.
But after about six years having worked my way up in the online team at MAC, I also took on some other brands who ended up having a portfolio of six brands that I oversaw globally for all of their e-commerce business.
So again, full P&L strategy planning, go-to market, and then interacting with our sort of internal center of excellence on the tech side. So it's a pretty chunky role, a fair bit of burnout at the end of that.
Basically, you know, I went off to sort of work out what I wanted to do next. And consulting just fell in my lap. So I started consulting, but in parallel, a couple of my friends that I'd worked with at Mac, we'd always talked about starting our own thing and doing something good for the world.
And around that time that I started consulting, we bought the idea back. And it was just like a conversation that converged with me doing a renovation of my very small Brooklyn apartment and needing to declutter a whole lot of clothes and not really finding an easy and sustainable solution. And that's really how retail was born.
And so a bit of a mashup of all things colliding and yeah, it's made for a beautiful story, I think, anyway.
Chase Clymer
I think it's fantastic as well. And it's authentic and it's true. And so let's take it from there.
So you realize that there isn't a solution out there for your problem, which was you had clothes that you didn't want to throw away. You didn't want them to end up in a landfill.
Let's talk about how you go from having a good idea to having maybe a business?
Amelia Trumble
Yeah. Well, that's a good question. We actually did a lot of work upfront to vet, do we have a business? So two of my friends from Mac were my co-founders. Noel worked on the social and digital side of things, and Alan is a customer data specialist and he worked on CRM.
So I sort of let out more DTC and tech and they obviously helped on other paths, but we all converge to really think about the business model. And what we knew was the problem, exactly as you said, is that there was nothing that was very easy for you to be able to do at home to be able to get rid of things in a sustainable way.
I was Ubering big IKEA bags of old clothes to a Goodwill and then the Goodwill would be closed and there'd be just clothes strewn all over the ground outside, which I was like, “No good coming of this.”
I could have also Uber-ed things to a farmer's market on a Sunday and found a green collection, but that was also very inconvenient.
So yeah, there was nothing really out there and we just actually went about researching the category because all of us were marketers. We didn't know anything about recycling. So we met with a lot of different recycling companies, all who fascinatingly were like, “Yeah, we'll work with you, like we can do that, like we can help you.”
And then when we vetted out sort of the convenience solution around like our yellow bags and having the mailing label attached and the customer being able to put anything in there, the good stuff that's new with tags all the way through to those old undies that I mentioned before.
When we went back to a lot of these recycling companies, they were like, “What do you mean? You want us to sort that, you want us to take mixed materials?” And it was just a hard no.
So it ended up taking a year and a half of just literally asking anyone with a pulse, basically, “Do you know anyone in textile recycling or has a sorting facility?” Before we found our current main partner that we work with, who was able to see our vision and they adapted their process to be able to take our business model. We were very lucky in that respect. That's how we vetted could we be a business.
But of course, we naively made a million mistakes along the way as most founders do. We're a large portion of what we were setting up because we're all marketers. We really thought significantly about obviously the web experience, but also customer data and a lot around the recycling data that we wanted to provide.
So one example of that is like from day one, we launched with a ticker on our website that explained how many tons of materials we've actually diverted from landfills. So we wanted to be very upfront with that customer communication.
I don't know if that really answers the question of how we've ended the business. But there's a lot there.
Chase Clymer
Oh, no. It did. And I think one thing I want to highlight from what you shared is it took you a year and a half to find a good partner. And that resonated with me because I remember reading something last week or the week before on Reddit about... I don't know if it was a guy or a gal on there saying that they couldn't build their MVP because their first partner that they paired with, couldn't do it.
And then lo and behold, through people asking questions within the comments, they just went with the first person they asked. And I think that's a mistake. You have to talk to a lot of people to find the right one. And it's why I wanted to highlight that.
Amelia Trumble
Yeah. I mean, we have a similar story actually, where we did a little bit with the first person that we met with.
So on the logistics side, we had a very interesting problem to solve where we wanted to have the mailing label attached to our yellow bags. I can do a bit of a show and tell. It's probably going to be horrible noise-wise but because we're on video.
So this is one of our yellow retail bags and it has the mailing label attached.
Chase Clymer
What size is that to explain for the listeners?
Amelia Trumble
It's about the size of a pillowcase is like the best way of describing it. And you can get around 5 pounds of textiles in there like cram it in pretty significantly.
So we wanted to send those bags out to people's homes with the mailing label attached. And we wanted to be able to generate those labels upfront but have no value attached to them. And they're really… We had no idea what we were doing when we're trying to find that solution.
And actually a good e-commerce friend recommended working with a company called FirstMile, who's sort of like a, at the time, a slow freight aggregator in a way where they would find out a way of making those solutions for you.
And shout out to our rep, who's actually called Chase as well. We were assigned to him, we were one of his first clients, and he really came up with this very innovative solution to kind of use like a returns label that another partner could generate for us.
Now we've moved on from that.
But being able to send all of those labels out to all of the customers without any value attached, obviously saved us thousands of dollars. And it's only activated obviously on scan when the customer puts it in the post.
But it's just that kind of thing… I think it's something like you having the architect, a unique solution like that and almost like JerryRig something that exists for another category, I feel is very like the entrepreneurial story. So we were lucky that we did go with that first recommendation to work with First Mile and we still work with them today and have a great relationship.
But it took us a lot of work to find the actual solution that we needed for the bag labels.
Chase Clymer
Yeah. No. That's a unique problem. And I've obviously... I've been on the website and I've spoken with you before. So I understand the product a bit more.
But I want to explain to the listeners as to what that actually looked like and why that was a big problem.
Basically you're sending these bags to folks, they fill them with the stuff they don't want, and then the bag has a shipping label already on it that mails it to your facility for them.
Amelia Trumble
Correct.
Chase Clymer
It's very easy. But...
Amelia Trumble
It doesn't ever come back to us. It goes to our recycling partner. Yeah.
Chase Clymer
Now, maybe a lot of listeners don't know this. Anyone that's in Ecommerce knows this. You print a shipping label, you are paying for it when you print it, usually. So to find out a way to have a shipping label on a bag that you're not being charged for to put out there because I'm sure there's a redemption rate where half these bags don't get used, they get destroyed, lost, whatever. That's a huge problem to solve.
Amelia Trumble
Yeah. And the other layer of it all, well, actually there's multiple layers, is that we need to be able to track everything because we wanted to know what was going to our partner.
One, we needed to pay them for their work and whatever else. But we needed to know the weight of every bag that was going from the customer to the depot for sorting. And so we could capture that tonnage of what was being diverted.
And then on top of that, we also launched a rewards program for our subscribers from day one where we gave them rewards. And so basically, we not only needed to know, ‘Did a bag go from Amelia to this sorting facility?’ we needed to know, ‘Was Amelia a subscriber and did her bag go and therefore unlock rewards for her?’
So there was a lot of work behind the scenes in terms of the tracking, getting all of the reporting behind the scenes, being able to ingest that, firing off emails from our Klaviyo, et cetera. So yeah, there was a fair bit in the setup.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
Amelia Trumble
But it was great that we had the year and a half trying to find our recycling partner to kind of work through all of those kinks too, to be honest, I guess.
Chase Clymer
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Chase Clymer
Absolutely. Now let's talk about... So you worked through one of these things. Let's talk about the go-to-market strategy.
How are you getting these bags into the hands of strangers? People you don't know.
Amelia Trumble
Yeah, I mean, obviously, like most businesses, a variety of trial and error around like what works for us. So obviously a large percentage of our traffic comes from AdWords because there's actually a very large audience of people who are searching ‘clothing recycling near me’ or ‘textile recycling’.
And the great thing about having the word recycling in your brand name is that that works very well for us. And we have some great rowers on AdWords.
Right now we're very focused on brand and differentiating ourselves from some of the other adjacent players in the market. So we're doing a lot of work with PR and basically using other methods like affiliate programs, working directly with influencers.
Obviously, we have a very robust organic social–communicating our brand messaging all the time. We've done a little bit of podcasts, which I think...Advertising, I mean, which has worked quite well because it's a longer format to tell a story and explain how to use retold. So yeah, we're trying a whole lot of things.
I can tell you what doesn't work really is just like straight up meta advertising. We've tried it many, many times retargeting all of that. Like it just doesn't seem to convert. And it's quite a crowded space when we're looking at the customer we're trying to target. So that's why we've tried to flip it and go after traffic in some other ways.
But honestly, like the thing that we're most proud of is the word of mouth and our refer-a-friend program or even just when we run a social giveaway and our customers tag their friends in the comments to try and win stuff.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. And I know that recently, you guys have expanded a little bit. Not only DTC anymore, but you're moving into retail.
Let's talk a bit about that.
Amelia Trumble
Yeah. So we're working with some agents to try and get us into eco groceries. So that's in progress right now some grocery chains here on the West Coast.
But also working with some more boutique retailers to get us in the hands of gift shops, eco stores. Basically our network that we're already tapped into, we're following up and rolling all of that out right now.
And then the next frontier will probably be some of our larger fashion partners and being able to sell our little box. I've got another show and tell here. So these items will be available in retail stores within the next couple of months.
And then we'll probably look to sell them on our DTC as well, particularly around the holidays, because it's just such a giftable item. It's great. Like if you've got an eco-obsessed friend or family member, to be able to give some bags for around $15 is pretty cool.
But yeah, there's a lot of expansion happening on the retail side. One thing that we haven't talked about is that we were on Shark Tank last year and we amazingly had a gift from the universe that Mark Cuban smiled upon us with a deal. And his whole vision for us was very broad distribution in the tank.
He was like, “This needs to be available in every 7-11 in America.” So that's basically our charge and what we're going after.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. I kind of buried the lead there. What other things about Shark Tank? Our listeners love Shark Tank stories. So what else can you share with us about that whole experience?
Amelia Trumble
Wow. I mean, I was horrified. It was a very personally traumatic day. So it's so much pressure and you're so scared. And being in that tank is very, very, very intimidating.
But honestly, I can say for our business, it was completely transformational in the doors that it's opened, being able to 1. say that we're on the show, but also being able to associate ourselves with Mark has opened so many doors for us. Honestly, it's been less about the cash that we receive, but more about the relationship.
And we work very closely with some people in his team at Mark Cuban Companies, and they're absolutely fabulous and support our business in so many different ways.
So honestly, I can't say a bad thing about Shark Tank except that it probably took a couple of years of my life actually being in the tank that day. But totally worth it.
Chase Clymer
Is there something about the Shark Tank experience that you think an average person wouldn't know?
Amelia Trumble
I mean that it's actually real. The sharks walk into the tank and don't know anything about your business other than your names and the name of your company. So your pitch to them upfront is completely real. You are cold pitching them. So that's pretty fascinating.
The production side of the business does diligence on you to a certain extent before you go in the tank. So you are like a legitimate business and there's no enormous red flags. But yeah, we're all like, “Oh, surely they know.” Like there's something precrafted about whether you're allowed in the tank or not, but they really didn't know.
So I thought that was scary, but great at the same time.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
Now, we're recording this just on the precipice of Q4 2024. We've got Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas around the corner. What does that mean to Retold Recycling? How are you guys thinking about tackling marketing this year?
Amelia Trumble
Yeah. So traditionally, we haven't been in a holiday business, obviously. But now that we have our retail packs, I think we will play more in that space and tell more of a gifting story.
We also have a sustainable store on retoldrecycling.com where we sell items from other brands that we love and they're very giftable too. So we talk about that. We kind of do our gift guide storytelling.
We're obviously promotional for Black Friday, Cyber Monday. It's such a huge volume time, why not get amongst it?
But honestly, during Q4, our biggest moment is actually National Recycling Day, which is in November. We play a lot there and play a lot on the B2B side as well with a lot of different companies and brands that we partner with to bring their recycling story to life. It's almost like we have a pre-Black Friday in November before Black Friday.
Our team's absolutely slammed, but it's a key tent pole for us. November National Recycling Day and then also Earth Month, Earth Week and Earth Day in April are our big moments.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
It must be... I feel like businesses like yours that have... Obviously, Amazon made Prime Day. It's just a made-up day. But when you have a business that's tied to something that is outside of Q4 and the main shopping seasons, I feel like that's just an extra advantage to your business.
Amelia Trumble
Yeah, I think so. I mean, it gives you space to play. Obviously, we're just after Labor Day and we did a Labor Day sale, but we were one of many. But we definitely have the right to shout loud during those key eco times.
I think a very important part of the business that we think about that's not just obviously selling our bags, but it's also providing education materials and setting up events, whether it be webinars or in-store events, etc. on behalf of partners. So giving them the toolkit and the credibility to roll out to their audience during those peak times. So it's very layered for us.
It's not just we start a promo at midnight and we've got four emails planned and we're watching our conversion like we would normally think. In the Ecomm world, there's a lot of omnichannel activity and activity on behalf of partners as well. So yeah, it's a pretty nuanced and busy time for us.
Chase Clymer
Now, is there anything I didn't ask you about that you think would resonate with our audience?
Amelia Trumble
I don't know. I mean, I'm honestly happy to chat with anyone. So find me on LinkedIn, whether you want to tell Ecomm war stories or learn more about recycling.
But I mean, I think the great thing and why I've obviously always worked in ecommerce for such a long time is just the connection to the customer. Being able to get that direct response, whether it be in the form of sales or reading chat transcripts of someone who's having a problem and being able to fix it on the fly, reading our reviews, shout out to our friends at Akendo. All of that kind of thing.
I just love that close proximity to the customer. And that's something that I'm obviously thinking a lot about as we do move into sort of like having wholesale skews.
And then one important thing that has come up for our business that actually stems directly from the customer feedback is we created a scraps bag, more show and tell. You can tell I just have a whole heap of bags just sitting on my desk.
But basically, this is another bag that was born from the feedback from our audience saying, “Hey, we do a lot of sewing and quilting and crafting and we have all these scraps. Will you take them?”
And of course, we were saying yes but behind the scenes, our recycling partners not really loving it. A whole lot of fluff goes everywhere as they're trying to sort through the clothes and everything in the bag. So we created a dedicated scraps bag.
So it's that kind of expansion that we get very excited about because we're like directly listening to the customer. We now have the infrastructure that's sort of ready for us to roll out more and more products. So we're very excited about that.
And then the other thing that I'm personally super pumped about is hopefully in October, we're actually going live with a new D2C site, obviously still on Shopify, but our current site's actually like our MVP site from pre-launch.
So we've obviously made a million updates, but we're really, really excited about a new lick of pain and the exact tech stack that we want with the theme, with all of the capabilities.
So Ecomm nerds will totally understand how much I've been loving that process, being able to update everything. So that's coming later in the year too.
Chase Clymer
Amelia, I can't thank you enough for coming on the podcast today and sharing your story.
Just one more time, if I'm listening to this and I've got a closet full of nonsense and I need to recycle it, what do I do?
Amelia Trumble
Jump on retoldrecycling.com and order some of our bags, send them to your house. Do a big declutter and you just need to seal them up and pop them out for your post person or put them in the closest USPS mailbox. And follow us on Retold Recycling on Instagram or TikTok. And follow along and learn some great eco tips and really work on your recycling practice.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. Thank you so much.
Amelia Trumble
Yeah. Thank you.
Chase Clymer
We can't thank our guests enough for coming on the show and sharing their knowledge and journey with us. We've got a lot to think about and potentially add into our own business. You can find all the links in the show notes.
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