Source: The Renewal Workshop Teams Up with New Balance to launch New Balance Renewed
Through The Renewal Workshop’s proprietary six-stage, zero-waste process, garments are sorted, graded, thoroughly cleaned, repaired to like-new standards, inspected, and verified to joint quality standards before being given a Renewal Workshop certification and becoming ready for sale through TRW’s website. Each item’s impact is measured to illustrate the tangible difference consumers are making by purchasing a New Balance Renewed product.
Sustainability and circularity go hand in hand. New Balance has been laying the groundwork for a better method of make with its PRJ program utilizing scraps to build sneakers, but it was their delve into the circular economy that was a solid entry into improving the carbon footprint of travelers by decreasing the weight added on flights by carrying extra footwear and workout apparel. It doesn’t sound like much, but I discussed that program here:
The Sustainability Report #4 | Westin Workout Gear Lending x New Balance: The Sharing Economy
The work with The Renewal Workshop continues the trend of brands repurposing returns and damaged products which could end up in landfills. As more brands find their way directly to the consumer’s pockets, the returns once taken on by retail wholesale accounts, are now the responsibility of the brand. In wholesale, the store has to manage and account for damaged returns or products mishandled in stores that can’t be resold. Stores like Hibbett Sports have begun to utilize a markdown system for mismates and slightly damaged products. Because brands don’t have the doors, they can’t turn around the returns quickly and this can lead to disposing of the goods in a manner detrimental to the environment. The TRW program with New Balance allows the brand another outlet for one of the most problematic areas in retail. New Balance has also worked with TRW to create apparel designed with the intention to repair vs discard. Check out this endeavor here: https://renewalworkshop.com/pages/new-balance
Note: As brands begin to monetize returns, expect this to have an affect on third party platforms like eBay and Poshmark.