Minneapolis, May 2020 – Unique, creative models that connect sellers and buyers are benefitting from the new reality of social distancing. Kidizen, the online community marketplace for second-hand kids’ fashion, is seeing increased engagement in its virtual community and the female founders of the tech startup attribute it to COVID19.
“Families have extra time at home, which they’re using to clean closets, yet many donation-based stores are closed,” said Dori Graff, co-founder of Kidizen. “So they’re learning how to sell items online, or using our Style Scouts to do it, and discovering extra income as a result. Plus, we’re hearing that they’re appreciating our values-based mission now more than ever, which seeks to address over-consumption and its environmental impact. In the midst of a very trying time, these are positive outcomes.”
Kidizen is also seeing increased participation in its REWEAR™ Collective, launched last year for branded products with enduring quality and style that want to integrate the resale channel into their businesses. The company is announcing that Alice + Ames, Livie and Luca and Tea Collection have signed on to the program, which creates brand loyalty with young moms who are increasingly active in the resale movement. When moms extend the life of the branded garments by reselling them in the Kidizen community, they earn rewards toward buying new from these brands or shopping resale on Kidizen. Recirculation of children’s clothing is frequent, given rapid growth stages from newborn to adult.
“Designing long-lasting, durable children’s clothing has always been a cornerstone of our brand. Our products are designed to stand the test of time and to be passed from child to child, creating both a more sustainable way of doing business and more childhood memories from a single item of clothing,” said Leigh Rawdon, CEO and Co-Founder of Tea Collection, which joins other eco-conscious brands like PLAE Shoes, Nui Organics, Art & Eden and See Kai Run in the collective. See Kai Run CEO Helen Rockey explained, “We let our customers know the resale potential of our items at the time they’re buying them new. Kidizen provides this data, as it monitors the preferences and buying patterns of a huge mom community.”
Large retailers and smaller brick-and-mortar boutiques with shuttered warehouses and furloughed employees are also moving product through Kidizen. Kidizen Style Scouts handle the online selling of overstock that’s accumulating because of COVID19 shutdowns. “Our unique model is ideally suited to this new economy,” says Graff. “Even other ecommerce retailers are having supply chain issues. We have endless inventory and fulfillment centers in people’s homes.”
Kidizen predicts the increased business will help it significantly grow its Style Scouts team and REWEAR program. Since its founding in 2014, the company has raised more than $6 million in angel investment and venture capital to build an online commerce community with more than 645,000 moms and close to 1 million products in inventory. “I’m proud of what we’ve built – a meaningful business that appeals to the values and game-changing shopping preferences of the new consumer, while addressing the changes happening in traditional retail. We’re a young company outfitting the youngest customers – from newborn on up — who will grow up appreciating and buying fashion in their own way.”
About Kidizen
Kidizen is the leading digital resale marketplace dedicated to kids’ clothes and accessories. Based in Minneapolis, the company is an award-winning female-founded startup that’s redefining how the online resale economy works. It sells quality pre-loved items from families, fashion brands and retailers to the largest community of mom shoppers in the U.S.