Every year, billions of garments end up in landfills — 101 million tons of them, in fact — contributing to a growing waste crisis. Addressing this challenge is no small feat, but brands such as GUESS are taking meaningful steps to make sustainable fashion more accessible.
With its new GUESS Again program, the company is helping customers recycle their old clothes while encouraging circular shopping habits.
Through a partnership with SuperCircle, GUESS allows online shoppers to add a prepaid shipping label to their orders. This label lets customers send in worn clothing items from any brand for recycling, resale, or repurposing. As an incentive, participants receive GUESS credit for their next purchase.
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This e-commerce program complements the brand's in-store customer recycling partnership with Homeboy Threads, a certified social enterprise that offers repair, resale, upcycling, and recycling services. Customers can bring five or more articles of clothing — also of any brand — to GUESS stores in the United States and Canada to receive a discount on their next qualifying purchase.
"GUESS Again … creates a new pathway for us to reduce our carbon footprint and offers a solution for apparel and textile waste," CEO Carlos Alberini said in a statement.
Though small, initiatives such as this mark progress in tackling the fashion industry's significant environmental footprint. Programs including GUESS Again encourage customers to rethink the lifecycle of their clothing, offering a practical step toward reducing waste. While it won't solve the fashion waste crisis overnight, this effort adds momentum to a broader industry shift toward sustainability.
SuperCircle CEO Chloe Marie Songer underscored the importance of such initiatives, explaining in a statement: "Accessible, value-creating textile recycling programs have never been more needed. We're thrilled to bring seamless, incentivized textile recycling to climate-conscious GUESS fans everywhere in a program that is a win-win-win for the brand, the consumer, and our planet."
GUESS joins other brands — including Levi's, which recycles old jeans into new ones, and Steve Madden, one of many brands that partners with Trashie to collect, reuse, and recycle unwanted clothing — that are striving to make fashion more sustainable.
While GUESS Again is just one step in the journey, it encourages customers to rethink the lifecycle of their clothing, paving the way for broader meaningful change in the fashion world.
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