DOEN Participaties-backed The Renewal Workshop acquired by Dutch-based Bleckmann

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US-based The Renewal Workshop, a company that partners with brands and retailers to renew their “unsellable” returns and excess inventory, announced that it has been acquired by Netherlands-based Bleckmann, a supply chain management services company for fashion, lifestyle and consumer electronics.

The step is part of The Renewal Workshop’s efforts to create a fully circular supply chain proposition for Bleckmann’s fashion and lifestyle clients. The acquisition enables Bleckmann to enhance its service portfolio with extensive renewal and recommerce services.

Jurrie-Jan Tap, Chief Business Development Officer at Bleckmann, says, “We have been following the developments of The Renewal Workshop in the last couple of years and admire the impressive work done by the founders and the entire TRW team. To Bleckmann, the comprehensive Renewal System complements our efforts to offer sustainable solutions to our clients.”

“Experts in developing circular solutions that scale”

Founded in 2015 by Jeff Denby and Nicole Bassett, The Renewal Workshop is a circular enterprise that has developed a full-service solution for return shipments of branded clothing. Return shipments are collected, repaired and remarketed under the name of the brands in question.

Denby told IamAmsterdam that he started out by creating an organic, fair trade label called Pact Apparel. When it was sold in 2015, his passion for sustainability still remained. He teamed up with Nicole Bassett, who had previously served as Patagonia’s social responsibility manager, and the pair began to develop a new business model for the apparel industry.

Denby says, “When you start looking behind the scenes of the apparel industry, you see so much waste. And there was literally no solution for brands. To this day, many of them shred or burn items that cannot be sold as first quality, and in some cases, they even shred or burn first quality products that are unsold.”

Determined to help end the wasteful culture of the industry, Denby and Bassett decided to create a fashion company based on a circular business model that eliminates waste and continually uses resources. And The Renewal Workshop was born.

Currently, the company has about 25 partners in the US, where it operates out of a facility in Portland, Oregon. As the company’s profile grew, Denby received interest from abroad, leading him to open in Amsterdam. “From a fashion industry standpoint, a lot of the distribution centres are in the Netherlands…so being close to the product minimises transportation. And there’s a really strong community here around circular economy thinking,” says Denby.

The establishment in Amsterdam has enabled the company to offer circular solutions to big brands in both the US and European markets.

Aim of this acquisition

By acquiring The Renewal Workshop’s technology, process and environmental impact methodology and combining it with Bleckmann’s supply chain expertise, Bleckmann can immediately provide circular services to help brands access the recommerce consumer base globally.

With the use of The Renewal Workshop solution by Bleckmann, fashion and lifestyle brands may ‘significantly’ decrease their environmental footprint.

The Renewal Workshop solution adds new value to Bleckmann’s current returns management solutions as well. With the addition of renewal to the returns processing, Bleckmann can add more value for brands by putting more products back into use. The acquisition also enables Bleckmann to provide recommerce sales solutions, making it easier and more efficient for brands to serve the growing resale market.

Jurrie-Jan Tap, Chief Business Development at Bleckmann, says, “Returns management is a significant business issue for clients, both financially and environmentally. With The Renewal Workshop by Bleckmann, we offer a new, advanced way of managing returns, leading to higher added value for all parties involved, including the end-consumers. By increasing the percentage of merchandise redirected to recommerce channels or repurposed by upcycling and recycling, we all build towards a better circular tomorrow.”

Nicole Bassett, co-founder and co-CEO of The Renewal Workshop says, “We are thrilled to find a values-aligned partner that brands can trust to provide truly sustainable circular services. Bleckmann has the resources, expertise, and commitment to scale renewal and recommerce for the industry. The potential for renewal to make a meaningful difference in the Climate Crisis is real. Our most recent research demonstrates that brands can achieve an average reduction of 51.5 per cent in carbon emissions by renewing an existing product instead of producing a new one. Bleckmann is the ideal partner to help every brand committed to sustainability achieve their goals.”

About Bleckmann

Founded in 1862, Bleckmann is dedicated to the fashion and lifestyle sector, operating logistics and distribution services to the retail industry throughout Europe, with worldwide forwarding capabilities. 

Based in Belgium and the Netherlands, and with a new facility in the UK, Bleckmann distributes 300 million apparel units per year. It was formed by the merger of TNT Fashion in The Netherlands and Belspeed in Belgium in 2014.

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Vishal Singh

Vishal Singh is a News Reporter and Social Media Marketing Lead at Silicon Canals. He covers developments in the European startup ecosystem and oversees the publication's social media presence. Before joining Silicon Canals, Vishal gained experience at the Indian digital media outlet Inc42, contributing to its growth with insightful content. Despite being a college dropout, his passion for writing has driven his career in journalism.

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