GUESS Launches Wardrobe Recycling Program with I:CO

GUESS is partnering with I:CO, short for I:Collect, to launch a nationwide wardrobe recycling program that kicked off on October 23. I:CO is a global solutions provider for the collection, certified sorting, reuse and recycling of used apparel and footwear.

GUESS’ recycling program, RESOURCED, initially launched in California in June. Due to its success, the program will now expand across the U.S. and globally by 2020.

Backed by an in-store, digital and online marketing campaign and as part of the company’s sustainability plan, GUESS is encouraging customers to extend the life of their clothing and shoes through its recycling program. In exchange for bringing in five or more items of clothing or shoes to any local GUESS, GUESS Factory, G by GUESS or Marciano store in the U.S., customers will receive 15 percent off a full-priced purchase in-store or online (subject to certain restrictions). The company will promote RESOURCED in its 295 U.S. stores across four brands under the GUESS?, Inc. umbrella with messaging in store-front windows, dressing rooms, e-mail marketing, social media and on its websites.

“GUESS has joined a global industry pledge to promote a circular fashion system—the idea that fashion should last, and be continuously repurposed, reused and recycled,” said Victor Herrero, CEO of GUESS?, Inc., in a statement. “Partnering with I:CO helps us achieve our goals and work on these initiatives to adapt our company and engage our employees, customers and community on developing a more sustainable fashion industry.”

In addition, GUESS created a video for the RESOURCED program to help illustrate the meaning of clothing and shoe’s “next best life.” GUESS teamed up with local partners—a cotton farmer, meal delivery service and music recording studio—to tell the story of how clothing and shoes may be resourced or recycled into something new.

GUESS said it partnered with I:CO to reduce textile waste and help create a circular fashion system where unwanted apparel and footwear can be continuously reprocessed and reused in a closed loop production cycle. Through I:CO’s retail take-back system and worldwide infrastructure, wearable items get a new life as secondhand goods. Unwearable items are resourced into new products like cleaning cloths or recycled into fibers for products such as insulation and new textiles.