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How to Launch a Successful Take-Back Program

FOR ENTERPRISE BRANDS

HOW TO LAUNCH A SUCCESSFUL TAKE-BACK PROGRAM

by Saloni Doshi  • published July 26 2024 • 17 minute read

So you've decided to create a take-back program for your business. In this guide, we break down how to launch a successful take-back program, including how to:

Need 10,000+ mail-back kits? Partner with us to create your kits with sustainable packaging.
building a great take-back program infographic
DIVE DEEPER

Establish Your Vision and Goals

Before you do anything else, ask yourself:

Why are you embarking on a take-back program?

Take-back programs can accidentally or intentionally become token efforts at circularity if they are not part of a broader sustainability strategy for your brand.

If you’ve committed through efforts such as:

  • Sustainable sourcing
  • Sustainable manufacturing
  • Ethical labor force
  • Maintaining responsible inventory and production levels
  • Producing quality/durable goods

… then a take-back program can be an effective addition to helping your conscious consumers responsibly manage the end of life for your products.

However, suppose you’ve done none of those things. In that case, we recommend halting - and looking for opportunities to make changes across your broader business strategy that can have a bigger environmental impact than a take-back program.

Once you’ve decided to institute a take-back program, set an overarching vision and some tangible goals.

Examples include:

Vision is to be Zero Waste

My goal is that less than 20% of my products are landfilled, incinerated or end up as litter. As such, I want 80% of my products to be resold, donated, repurposed, or recycled. My take-back program is an effort to reclaim my products at the end of their useful life and put the valuable resources in that product back into circulation.

Vision is to be Circular

I believe that fashion should be truly circular, meaning that my garments are ideally made from garments and become garments in their next life. My take-back program is an effort to secure my apparel back at the end of its useful life, so I can repurpose or recycle those raw materials back into yarn and textiles. Then, I can use these materials in future products, setting the foundation for my business to be fully circular long-term.

Vision is to Inspire Conscious Consumption

I believe most consumers don’t realize how excessively they are purchasing apparel today. My goal is to sell them a high-quality capsule wardrobe to help them avoid excessive apparel purchasing and to give them a take-back option to help give them insight into how much they purchase, incentivizing them to move away from fast fashion long-term.

Establishing this vision up front is vital.

You can see how the first vision drives different actions than the last one. With the last one, you likely would not provide discounts on future orders as an incentive, encouraging another round of consumption. Still, you might donate on your customer's behalf or offer a free repair service.

With the second, you may be more likely to only accept your own apparel whose fabric may be more likely to be recycled back into usable fabric, whereas, with the first, you might be more flexible with what you receive, recognizing that most of it would be donated or downcycled.

Once you have your vision, it’s time to move into the tactical aspects of creating a take-back program.

Determine Your Plan for Goods Received

Before you start receiving products from customers, you need a plan for handling and processing them.

Likely, your goods will need to be sorted and, based on their material, quality, and condition, will go through one or more of several next-life processes:

  • Resold
  • Repaired and resold
  • Donated
  • Downcycled into an industrial product (insulation, bedding, etc.)
  • Recycled into fabric or materials to be used by the fashion industry
  • Recycled into fabric you can put to use in your product

Your ideal program will be driven - in large part - by the vision and goals you established in step #1 above.

As you design your initial program, remember that your brand’s desired path may not be feasible in the short term.

So, as you seek to begin, reach out to reclaiming, donations, and recycling partners to see how closely you can achieve your optimal vision now, as well as determine what the roadmap to moving towards that end vision could look like.

Examples of Tradeoffs In Launching Your Program

For example, you may envision that all received products should be repaired and resold or recycled back into fabrics your company can use to make new goods. This is a beautiful circular vision.

However, after conducting research and engaging with repair and recycling partners, you may discover that the cost structure of repair and resell is untenable for your business.

In addition, you may find that the composite nature of your fabrics makes circular recycling very difficult. In this situation, you can donate usable goods (with a nonprofit partner) and downcycle more worn goods (into insulation with a downcycling partner) as a starting point.

In parallel, you’d take on strategies to make repair and resale more feasible in the long term, potentially by building a repair platform and a recommerce site in-house or partnering with a repair and resale organization.

Additionally, you might reconsider the textiles and components you work with, prioritizing fabrics that can be more easily recycled and constructing components so they can be more easily removed.

Choosing Your Strategic Partners

One of the most important steps in this process is to identify the partners with whom you will work to manage the back end of your take-back program.

These partners help you responsibly resell, donate, or recycle the goods you receive. While customers may not interact with them directly, they are critical to your program’sprogram’s success.

Depending on the size and complexity of your program, you may need a partner(s) for some or all of the following:

  • Partner who receives and sorts the goods that come in
  • Partner who helps repair and/or resell the goods that come in
  • Partner who supports any donations
  • Partner downcycles your goods into industrial goods
  • Partner who recycles your goods (either mechanically or chemically) into raw materials that can be sold to brands (and ideally, sold back to you for use in your products)
  • Partner who supports with any items that need to be landfilled or incinerated, as inevitably, some of what you receive will be unusable and will need to be discarded
    Partner who helps track and audit data across this program

In many cases, one or two partners can handle all you need. Your brand may take some of these steps internally while outsourcing others to a partner.

If you’re unsure which partners you should work with, we can help you identify organizations aligning with your brand’s needs, goals, and values.

Reclaiming & Recycling Partners

Take-Back Partners

Material Return: Material Return helps brands by remanufacturing returned products into new yarn and materials, supporting circular economy initiatives through innovative recycling technologies.

Recurate: Recurate partners with brands to build integrated resale marketplaces, allowing customers to buy and sell secondhand items directly on the brand’s website.

Reflaunt: Reflaunt enables brands to integrate resale functionality into their e-commerce platforms, helping customers easily resell their used items and promoting a circular fashion economy.

Super Circle: Super Circle assists brands in creating efficient take-back programs by providing logistics and recycling solutions, ensuring that returned items are processed sustainably.

Treet: Treet helps brands establish peer-to-peer resale platforms, enabling customers to buy and sell pre-owned items and enhancing product lifecycles.

The Renewal Workshop: The Renewal Workshop provides brands with solutions to refurbish and resell returned and damaged goods, turning them into renewed products ready for resale.

ReCircled: ReCircled works with brands to develop comprehensive circular systems, including take-back, sorting, and repurposing used products into new items or materials.

Packaging Partners

EcoEnclose: We work with enterprise brands seeking 10,000 or more mail-back kits at a time to develop and produce offerings that are 100% recycled, brand-aligned, easy for customers to use, and cost-effective.

Textile Recyclers

Evrnu: Evrnu creates regenerated textile fibers from discarded garments, supporting brands in achieving sustainable and circular production models.

Infinited Fiber: Infinited Fiber regenerates textile waste into high-quality, reusable fiber that can be used to produce new clothing, contributing to a circular textile economy.

Renewcell: Renewcell transforms discarded textiles into Circulose®, a biodegradable raw material used to make new clothes, thus closing the loop in the fashion industry.

Saxcell: Saxcell converts cellulose-based textile waste into regenerated cellulosic fibers, providing sustainable raw materials for new textile production.

Texlimca: Texlimca offers comprehensive textile recycling services, processing post-consumer and industrial textile waste into new materials for the fashion industry.

Worn Again: Worn Again pioneers recycling technology that separates, decontaminates, and converts polyester and cellulose textiles into reusable raw materials.

Evrnu: Evrnu creates regenerated textile fibers from discarded garments, supporting brands in achieving sustainable and circular production models.

Bonded Logic: Bonded Logic transforms recycled textiles into eco-friendly insulation products, partnering with brands to repurpose textile waste sustainably.

Circ: Circ uses breakthrough technology to recycle blended textile waste into new fibers, helping brands achieve circularity in their production processes.

Infinited Fiber: Infinited Fiber regenerates textile waste into high-quality, reusable fiber that can produce new clothing, contributing to a circular textile economy.

Recover Fiber: Recover Fiber creates sustainable recycled cotton fiber from textile waste, partnering with brands to incorporate these fibers into new products.

Renewcell: Renewcell transforms discarded textiles into Circulose®, a biodegradable raw material used to make new clothes, thus closing the loop in the fashion industry.

Sax Cell: Saxcell converts cellulose-based textile waste into regenerated cellulosic fibers, providing sustainable raw materials for new textile production.

Texlimca: Texlimca offers comprehensive textile recycling services, processing post-consumer and industrial textile waste into new materials for the fashion industry.

Worn Again: Worn Again pioneers recycling technology that separates, decontaminates, and converts polyester and cellulose textiles into reusable raw materials.

Clothing Resell Partners

Tersus: Tersus provides brands with closed-loop recycling solutions by cleaning, refurbishing, and preparing returned items for resale or recycling.

ThredUp: ThredUp collaborates with brands to offer resale services, including clean-out kits for customers to send in used clothing, which ThredUp then sells on its platform.

Trove: Trove partners with brands to create branded resale platforms, managing the logistics and operations of collecting, refurbishing, and reselling used items.

Charitable Donation Partners

Clothes4Souls: Clothes4Souls is a division of Soles4Souls and partners with brands to collect and distribute clothing to individuals in crisis, providing immediate relief and long-term support.

 

Dress for Success: Dress for Success partners with brands to provide professional attire and support to women seeking economic independence, using donated clothing to empower their clients.

Goodwill Industries: Goodwill accepts clothing donations from brands and individuals, reselling items to fund job training and community programs for people facing challenges to employment. A good starter partner for small brands.

Planet Aid: Planet Aid works with brands to collect used clothing, recycle, and resell items to support global development projects in education, health, and agriculture.

Soles4Souls: Soles4Souls helps brands by distributing donated shoes and clothing to people in need, turning unwanted items into opportunities for those in poverty.

Shop Repurpose: Shop Repurpose is a nonprofit headquartered in New York City that accepts donations of specific luxury clothing brands and provides job readiness training and personal and professional development to the future workforce of the fashion and design industries.

The Salvation Army: The Salvation Army collects clothing donations from brands to support its social service programs, which assist those in need. It may be a good starter partner for small brands.

Thread Together: Thread Together works with brands to redistribute surplus clothing to vulnerable communities, ensuring that excess stock supports those in need rather than going to waste.

Industry Associations and Nonprofits

Accelerating Circularity: Accelerating circularity collaborates with industry stakeholders to develop and implement circular systems in the textile industry, providing brand resources and support.

American Circular Textiles: American Circular Textiles promotes and facilitates circularity in the textile industry, offering resources and collaboration opportunities for brands committed to sustainable practices.

Blue Jeans Go Green: Blue Jeans Go Green collects denim donations and recycles them into insulation, helping brands promote sustainability through textile recycling initiatives.

Conscious Fashion Forum: The Conscious Fashion Forum is an industry collective promoting sustainable practices, offering resources and networking opportunities for brands committed to circular fashion.

Choosing Your Acceptable Goods

At this point, you can decide what goods you will take back.

For example:

  • Will it be your goods, or a subset of your goods?
  • Will it be all apparel, or all apparel of a certain type of material?
  • How clean does the material need to be?
  • Are there materials you will ban?

With your back-end strategy in place, it’s time to plan for the customer-facing elements of your take-back program.

clothing sent back for recycling
Clothing sent back for recycling. Source: Shutterstock

Structure Your Customer and Operational Components

So far, you’ve determined what items you’ll be accepting in your take-back program, what will happen to those goods, and what partners will help you bring the end-of-life portion of this program to life.

Now, it’s time to structure the front end. What do you envision for the customer experience and the operational flow?

First, if you’re still unsure about what goods you will accept, now is the time to create solid criteria. This is important not only to your operational success but also to customers' understanding and participation in your program.

You need to define elements such as the brands, types, conditions, and materials of products you will take back. Then, ensure you clearly communicate these requirements.

Once you’ve solidified your take-back requirements, you’re ready to examine the process of receiving products.

Here are some questions for you to consider:

  • Will goods be mailed back, or will you have in-store drop-offs or both?
    If mailed back, will customers order a mail-back kit or use any mailer/box they have?
  • Will this mail-back kit be an add-on offer to existing website orders, or can customers order it separately?
  • Will you offer the mail-back kit free of charge, or will you charge a nominal amount?
  • Will you include a prepaid shipping label or ask customers to cover the shipping cost?
  • Will participating customers receive coupon codes, discount structures, in-store points, or other benefits?

With so many factors at play, there are countless ways to structure your program.

Here are three examples of different approaches to the operational side of take-back programs to help you visualize how these various elements can come together.

Brand X Take-Back Program

 
Acceptable Goods:
 

Only accepts Brand X goods in all conditions.

Goods Collection Method:
 

Full take-back kits can be ordered on the brand’s website. They can be added to an order or ordered separately.

Mail-Back Kits:
 
Mail-back kits are fully branded to ensure the program showcases brand values and customer loyalty.
 
Customer Receives:
 
After customers fill out their take-back kits and ship them back, they receive a 15% discount on future purchases with Brand X after the goods are received and sorted to ensure they match what was requested.
 
Pros:
 
Brand X's approach garners the most brand engagement and establishes the highest level of customer loyalty.
 
Customers are actually ordering something - which feels nice - and then get excited to receive the mail-back kit.
 
The mail-back kit is fully branded for Brand X and is full of messaging and excitement about what the customer is doing to discard old responsibly.
 
This experience has a lot of shareable components - lots of social media exposure possibilities for Brand X. With this experience, Brand X can fully leverage their take-back program to build a community.
 
Cons:
 
Brand X's approach is the most costly approach to structuring the program.
 
Physical mail-back kits must be created and shipped to customers (generally at no cost to customers). It also requires the establishment of web development and fulfillment operations.
 
While these logistics are typically fairly easy for established e-commerce brands, it is still important to note.

Brand Y Take-Back Program

 
Acceptable Goods:
 

Accepts all sunglasses, including Brand Y and any other sunglasses of any materials.

Goods Collection Method:
 

Sunglasses can only be dropped off at retail locations. This take-back program does not include a mailing component.

Mail-Back Kits:
 
Not applicable to Brand Y's take-back program.
 
Customer Receives:
 
Customers receive a free sunglasses repair or lens replacement for every pair of sunglasses they drop off.
 
Pros:
 
Brand Y does not incur shipping costs because there is no mail-back component. The program encourages customers to visit stores, incentivizing brand engagement.
 
Cons:
 
Many more people are likely to take advantage of a mail back kit that they can order with a click of a button versus taking the time to go into the store.
 
When people go to the store, they may find that they’ve forgotten to bring their goods ready for disposal. Likely to have a less powerful brand engagement and participation rate than Brand X’s program.

Brand Z Take-Back Program

 
Acceptable Goods:
 

Accepts all swimwear, including Brand Zs and any other brands.

Goods Collection Method:
 

Customers are asked to use any packaging they have lying around. They request a shipping label from Brand Z’s website, print it out and place it on their packaging.

Mail-Back Kits:
 
Not applicable to Brand Y's take-back program.
 
Customer Receives:
 
Customers receive a coupon for $10 off future orders via email after their take-back is received.
 
Pros:
 
No mail-back kits need to be created, saving Brand Z costs. No web development and fulfillment operations are required, making it an easier program to bring to market. This approach also gives customers a chance to repurpose their old packaging (a sustainable packaging win) in a way that will make them feel great.
 
Cons:
 
Brand Z loses a chance for a compelling and memorable consumer experience with their brand. Asking people to print a shipping label is also a demanding task - many will skip this step and drop off, leaving Brand Z with a lower engagement rate.

Develop Your Mail-In Package

If you are creating a mail-back kit for your customers to order and use to send back goods at the end of their useful life, then your next step will be to design your mail-in kit packaging solution.

If you sell and are taking back soft goods, here are the standard components of a kit:

1. Mailer for the Returned Goods

Made with recycled content - learn why recycled matters.

Customers need a mailer to fill with their goods. Most brands use poly mailers rather than paper mailers for this use case because:

  • They are less expensive to ship
  • They can fold up for efficient shipping to customers
  • They can be stuffed with a lot of products and retain durability
  • They are significantly cheaper (important if brands are covering the cost)

Brands will typically brand these mailers, helping to showcase their brand messaging, create a memorable experience for their customers, and promote a collective movement towards a more circular future.

2. Notecard or Info-Sharing Sheet

Made with recycled content - learn why recycled matters.

Some brands simply print branding and instructions on the mail-back kit mailer itself. Other brands will print out a sheet or a notecard outlining specifics of the take-back program and giving customer instructions on what to send back, what not to send back, where to go for their discount code, and more.

3. Return Shipping Label

Printed on a zero-waste release liner - learn why zero waste matters.

A pre-printed FedEx, UPS, or USPS shipping label to the address your brand needs all sent-back material to go to. This is often the location of your reclaiming partner.

Generally, these labels are mass-printed in bulk, with a default dimension and weight and a brand agreement with your carrier regarding how charges will be incurred.

Because these labels are mass printed in bulk, they may or may not contain unique tracking codes and, therefore, may not be trackable depending on what carrier partner you work with and how they structure their operations.

4. Mailer to Ship the Complete Take-Back Kit

Made with a right-sized mailer - learn why sizing right matters.

The mailer for the returned goods, notecard, and return shipping label need to be sent to customers in some type of packaging.

This is where the take-back kit mailer comes in to play. This is typically a paper mailer or envelope, optimally with dimensions and a weight that keeps it at the lowest shipping cost rate possible.

Some brands print instructions, branding, or messaging on these kit mailers, while others leave them blank.

5. Coupon Code

Made with eco-friendly stickers or recycled notecards.

If brands offer a coupon code or discount to customers who send back goods, they need to figure out how to best deliver the code.

Some brands add a variable coupon code to the mailed out take-back kit as a sticker that is adhered to the kit mailer or a variably printed notecard.

Other brands skip this step, instead instituting a process for emailing customers a unique coupon code when their take-back kit arrives at the facility.


Once the mail-back kit is developed, the next step is to get it on your website or a host partner’s website.

Design the ordering experience you want customers to have, including whether they can order your kit as a stand-alone purchase or as part of an existing purchase. Then, get the ordering system online and test everything to ensure all the front- and back-end processes function properly.

Ideally, get someone else to review the ordering process and give you feedback. Did they get confused or experience friction at any point? If so, streamline things and try again.

Launch, Monitor, Track, and Share Your Data

Once you have your ordering system online, your mailing kits, and your operations in place, you’re ready to prepare for the program launch.

To make your program a success, take the time to plan a robust marketing campaign to accompany the launch. Simply adding the mail-in kit to your shop or a drop-off spot to your store isn’tisn’t enough to get customers to participate.

Instead, consider using channels such as social media, web content, email, printed materials, and more to share your new program with customers and invite them to join in.

Then it’s time to launch!

As you do, be proactively tracking critical metrics such as:

Customer Interest Rate

  • How many customers have ordered the take-back kit?
  • How many store drop-offs are we receiving?
  • How frequently are customers adding it to their cart at checkout?
  • Are participants new customers or existing customers?
  • How does the program impact customer loyalty, reorder rates, etc.?

Participation Rate

  • How many kits do you get back?
  • What % of customers who order a kit use it and send products back?
  • What % of coupon codes are used?

Recycling Rate

  • How many pounds of product is being received?
  • How does it split into your brand’s goods versus others?
  • What % is contamination?
  • What % is resold, donated, downcycled, recycled?
  • What % is recycled back into your goods?
  • What % needs to be landfilled?

Financials

  • How much does the program cost - end to end?
  • What are the per-unit costs versus overarching expenses?
  • Is the program generating any positive impact on your revenue?

Overall Sustainability

  • Lbs of landfill diversion
  • Lbs of carbon and water saved from recycling textiles into usable goods
  • Number of new products made with recycled materials from the program
  • Products donated

Your take-back program will not be perfect initially, and that’s okay.

Keep iterating and improving it, keeping your ultimate vision and goals in mind. It may take time, but you’ll learn more with every iteration and make progress toward greater circularity and sustainability.

Produce Your Mail-Back Kit with EcoEnclose

EcoEnclose has supported several brands as they launched and operated their take-back programs. We are positioned to bring your mail-back kit to market rapidly.

smartwool mail-back kit
Smartwool partnered with EcoEnclose to produce their mail-back kits for their Second Cut™ Project. Source: EcoEnclose

If you are already purchasing your packaging with EcoEnclose and plan to produce mail-back kits in batches of 10,000 or more, we can execute the following:

1. Design & brand your return mailer

We produce the mailer your customers use to send back their products.

Depending on your volumes, these can be printed with a variable design to allow for variable barcode scanning or variable QR code needs at the receiving end of your operational process.

2. Print your return labels

We print shipping labels on our unique Zero Waste Shipping Labels.

While EcoEnclose can mass print these labels, they will be done on your brand’s carrier accounts - UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc. Often, specific agreements must be put in place with your carrier to ensure the rates incurred for these send-back shipments are competitive.

3. Print your stickers & notecards

We print any variable stickers or notecards you need for variable coupon codes or similar use cases.

4. Design & custom brand your mail-back kit mailer

We produce the outer mailer that your mail-back kit will be shipped to your customers in.

5. Keep your shipping costs low

It's critical to keep weight and dimensions of the take-back kit to a minimum. We help you design all of your components in such a way that your cost of shipping is as low as possible.

6. Kitting your mail-back kits

We kit the mail-back components into a single package.

7. Ship your mail-back kits

We ship fully formed mail-back kits to your fulfillment center or your required location.


Ready to Create Your Mail-Back Kit?

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