Episode 235: How SwagCycle Keeps Obsolete Merch Out of Landfills
When facebook rebranded to meta – what happened to that old facebook merchandise?
When your client rebrands … do you have a discard program that helps them find a way to sustainably discard, recycle, or reuse that merchandise?
Ben Grossman was sitting in a meeting with a client talking through their rebranding process and began wondering what they would do with the old logo merch. And in that meeting, in that moment, the idea for SwagCycle was born.
SwagCycle is a start-up focused on responsibly managing the lifecycle of branded merch. When companies rebrand or get acquired, many of those companies, through their distributor partners, often dispose of their obsolete branded merchandise.
Swagcycle leverages their proprietary network of partners to help companies repurpose, recycle or reuse items in a responsible, ethical, and affordable way.
They have deep relationships with a nationwide network of charitable partners (some of which we talk about today) and when a company needs to completely discard old merch, they work with best-in-class recycling partners to leave the smallest footprint possible.
How effective are they? To date, Swagcycle has kept over 1.2 million items out of landfills and facilitated over 2.4 million dollars worth in charitable donations, and they are just getting started.
SwagCycle is a portfolio company of Grossman Marketing Group, a fourth-generation marketing services firm and a distributor with a deep history of corporate responsibility. Ben Grossman, our guest today, is the co-President of Grossman Marketing Group, leading the family business alongside his brother David. And Ben is the founder of this amazing service called SwagCycle.
Today, we talk about:
Recycling and upcycling merch
What happens to merch when it goes to a landfill (and how to avoid it)
Ben’s 6-step process for walking any client through a discard plan for obsolete merch
And, we talk about how as a distributor or supplier, you can partner with Ben to help your clients.
And finally, we talk about how this business has not only given voice and action to a passion of Ben’s but how it has changed him.
Oh, and when facebook rebranded to meta, they called SwagCycle, we talk about that too. Join us!