Their company, Go Thrift, operates out of northern England, near Manchester. For Carl and his co-founders, business and sustainability aren’t oppositional forces at all: they complement each other. Go Thrift’s mission is focused around creating, “a brand-new life for secondhand clothes, because everyone deserves outfits they love that don’t cost the Earth, literally.”
Go Thrift is a massive retailer of secondhand clothing, collected from and sold around the world. From that first closet-full of vintage dresses, Go Thrift has expanded into a million-dollar business.
Go Thrift’s efforts to keep wearable, fashionable clothing out of landfills has led to several recognitions. The company was given the Sustainable Seller Award at the eBay for Business Awards in 2021, and received funding from sustainable investment house OnePlanetCapital. With that funding, Go Thrift plans to move into a warehouse that provides three times as much space. That will allow them to continue to expand their sustainable operations by, for example, investing in solar panels for clean energy.
“It's obviously vitally important that we make a difference and have an impact, but we're not just in it for that; there's also a business sense behind it, with the demand for secondhand,” says Carl.