The Renewal Workshop has been acquired, signaling an end to local operations but a big growth opportunity for its method of refurbishing and reselling apparel and other textiles.
The Cascades Locks startup, which employed 45 people, was bought by Bleckmann, a major Netherlands-headquartered fashion logistics company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bleckmann has a U.S. distribution center in Ohio where Renewal Workshop technology and processes will be put to use with returned products that Bleckmann handles.
“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,” Jurrie-Jan Tap, chief business development officer at Bleckmann, said in a statement.
Renewal Workshop began winding down in Cascade Locks last month ahead of the sale announcement, co-founder Nicole Bassett said.
When Bassett and Jeff Denby started the company in 2015 the idea was to stem the flow of clothing and textiles into landfills by fixing and cleaning up flawed and returned products, then offering them for sale. It relied on a team of expert seamstresses and partnered with brands ranging from The North Face to Pottery Barn and opened a branch in Amsterdam that Denby ran.
Bassett said the acquisition was validation of a concept that was new when it was hatched.
“There were companies that did pieces of what we did, but we were the first with this holistic approach,” she said. The business model hasn’t changed but the rationale has shifted and the growth potential expanded, Bassett added.
“For major brands, the conversation has moved from waste reduction to emissions,” she said, as companies look to impress climate-conscious consumers and investors and meet ever-more-ambitious reduction goals.
Internal research shows products sold through the Renewal Workshop process have less than half the emissions of new ones, on average, she said.
Bassett will stay on with Bleckmann, working remotely from Oregon, in a role that is still being ironed out, she said.
Bassett declined to put a number on the company’s historic fundraising, but it closed a $6 million round last year and $5.5 million round in 2019. Backers over the years have included Portland Seed Fund.
