My mom recycled before it was cool. You see, before I was born, my parents spent two years in Haiti doing humanitarian work. And those two years heavily influenced the way they would live the rest of their lives back in the United States and raise their three children.

So, on our back steps we had bags for clear glass, brown glass and green glass (usually the occasional Heineken bottles) as well as a container for our Sunday newspapers. When things started to approach the brim, my mom would load the bags into the back of our car and drive them all the way to the recycling plant. This was “normal” to me (and I will never forget the smell of that recycling plant.) 🙂

In the meantime, every six months to a year while growing up, a package of clothes would arrive from one of my mom’s nursing school friends – yes, a package of hand-me-downs for me. My mom’s friend had two boys older than me and whenever it was time, she would pack up the clothes they had grown out of and ship them to our house. (Conversely, as I had two older sisters, my mom would send those hand-me-downs to her same friend, whose daughter would use them.)

In that package of hand-me-downs sent for me, there would always be some fantastic winners – clothes that would become staples. Needless to say, there would sometimes be a few losers – clothes I wasn’t so fond of, but the overall experience was exciting, kind of like a mini-birthday, and the winners far outweighed the losers.

Well, one day in 2016 it hit me: after reading about the staggering amounts of waste in the clothing industry and how we need to re-think, not only the entire industry, but how we use our Earth’s resources; why can’t we capture that hand-me-down spirit and save people money by combining technology and communication. And in that simple notion, is the opportunity for someone to fill a wardrobe for a growing child (or even an adult) at a nominal cost while extending the life cycle of our clothing.

…And hence, eHandMeDowns was born.

Yes, the point here is to sell a collection of items that go together. Most often, it is similar sized clothing so that a parent can purchase an assortment of clothes that will fit their child. But it extends to adults and even items like wedding dresses, maternity outfits, Halloween costumes, etc.

So, there you have it, my simple attempt to put the world in touch with each other so we not only save money, but get the best use out of our clothing and continue to build a more sustainable world.

Pay it forward my friends.

Cheers,
-Will
Founder – eHandMeDowns.com