Episode 5: Philanthropy through sustainable fashion: An Interview with Amy Hebb of Second Serve Resale
Download MP3Welcome to this week's episode of Local Threads. I'm Molly, your host. And this week, I'm sitting down with the founder of Second Serve Resale, Amy Hebb. Second Serve Resale is a nonprofit out of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. And I'm gonna wait until you listen to the episode to find out more about it.
Molly Host:Let's get into it. Welcome, Amy Heb, founder of Second Serve Resale out of Providence. Out of Pawtucket. Pawtucket.
Amy Guest:Pawtucket. Silent W. Oh, no. I I'm gonna
Molly Host:get in so much trouble for
Amy Guest:It's hard.
Molly Host:I know pronounce pronounce every single town in Massachusetts. At least I say Massachusetts right. Yeah. I got that going for me. But That's okay.
Molly Host:It's what? It's like p apostrophe tuck it. Pawtucket.
Amy Guest:Yep. Phonetically, it's Pawtucket. That's what I said. But it's Pawtucket.
Molly Host:Oh my gosh. At Hope Artist Village. Right? Yes. Yes.
Molly Host:Pawtucket. Yeah. Good. I nailed it. Okay.
Molly Host:I'm not gonna say Peabody. I hate that
Amy Guest:word. You
Molly Host:started Second in 2021, right?
Amy Guest:So Second Serve Resale incorporated in 2020 during COVID. And then our online store was formed during COVID and kind of went live the end of twenty twenty one. So 2022, I would say, is our first full year of online business. So, we're in technically because we incorporated in 2020, we'll have a five year anniversary soon.
Molly Host:That's impossible. That's not that you've done that, but that time has went that fast. Yes.
Amy Guest:Oh, yeah. Know.
Molly Host:Don't know what time warp we entered in, but I'd like to some somebody needs to put it neutral because we're in overdrive.
Amy Guest:Yes. Especially looking back at the pandemic. I mean, it seems like it was yesterday or last year, not.
Molly Host:Yeah. Yeah. Five years. Well, congratulations on that. That's a milestone.
Molly Host:And for those that don't know, Second Resale is a nonprofit.
Amy Guest:It's, Second Serve Resale is an online shop. We also have in person pop ups from time to time, but our main concept is an online store. And, when you buy something from Second Serve Resale, you get to pick where the proceeds go.
Molly Host:And it's 85%.
Amy Guest:85%. And we have 20 or so nonprofits to choose from. So people donate to us and then we put that stuff online. You know, we promote resale as opposed to buying new clothing items, and then the environment is safeguarded. And at the same time, a nonprofit will get some of the money.
Amy Guest:And so the concept is to try to see if resale purchases can be increased with the incentive of adding, you know, your choice of a nonprofit to direct the money. You and I know for sure that there's lots of reasons to buy resale, Environmental reasons, and also because budget reasons, but also just cool stuff is out there. But maybe an incentive to give to nonprofits will bring people back. And so that's our main mission, is to increase resale sales, not just with us, but with, you know, anywhere. We want to convert people to resale.
Amy Guest:And we also promote, you know, not buying and mending your own clothes, but really to try to address the crazy consumption problem that we have in this country primarily, although it's not just this country, but that is what the concept is. Yeah, it's been fun, and we're growing.
Molly Host:Oh, you
Amy Guest:are. Catching on slowly.
Molly Host:Yeah. So if a nonprofit, how do they go about doing that?
Amy Guest:Well, you could email me, and we can have a discussion. We're trying to get out of Rhode Island right now, not because, I mean, obviously we love Rhode Island, but second serve resale is a national concept. So some of our nonprofits are in Rhode Island, but there's plenty outside. We have three in California, one in Mass, one in Georgia, one in Washington state. And we just have a new international one in Guatemala.
Amy Guest:And so we're trying to partner with nonprofits where our customers are and have a variety, a geographic variety and also in terms of programming variety. Yeah, if someone wants to partner or if they're interested, you know, you should contact me, amysecondserveresell dot org, and we can talk about it. When we partner, we expect the nonprofits to promote us. Right. And that's really what the partnership is.
Amy Guest:We'll give you 85% if someone just, you know, selects you at checkout, but we need you to get the word out about us. And it really just helps the nonprofit. It's another way for constituents to support something that they already support or support in a different way. So if people are game for being involved with that, then, you know, that's a good conversation to have.
Molly Host:I know somebody. Okay. If you're if you're looking to fundraise, I know I know a person that Okay. I can send you 85% of their sales.
Amy Guest:Well, it's really like a no brainer for nonprofits.
Molly Host:It it is. It seems like a really simple thing to do for a nonprofit.
Amy Guest:Right. And I think the nonprofits that we partner with that do the best, though, are the ones that will put us on their website, will put us in social because the It doesn't sort of happen magically. Right. You know, the ones that do better are the ones that are well known nationally. Like, we partner with Save the Bay and Meals on Wheels.
Amy Guest:Mhmm. Like, we don't have any nonprofits in, Arizona. Maybe we should. But if you're in Arizona and you're looking down the list, well, you know what Meals on Wheels, like you have a local So Meals on that's generally helpful. But if you're a smaller nonprofit, you have to get the word out to people to say, Listen, if you're into resale, this is another way you can support us.
Amy Guest:Right. So, yeah. I mean, it should work out. You know, I I it hasn't been nonprofits are stretched, though. Yeah.
Amy Guest:I mean, yes. They have their hands full, and presently, they're getting a bunch of funding cut. Like, it's it's chaos out there. So it's not like, you know, number one on a nonprofit's list to make sure they get the word out about second serve. But really, that's how it's supposed to work.
Amy Guest:And that's what I'm trying to test by doing this and to, you know, sort of maximize the effectiveness of selling resale, you know, maximize the sale of a commodity that everybody has in spades, you know? So you help the environment, but like why should nonprofit should get a cut of that? Why should it just be for profit companies? We have too much clothing. You know, it should we should have a and that was the idea.
Amy Guest:There should be some way to make this easier for nonprofits Yeah. To create a to create this win win situation for the environment and for and for -TANCE:
Molly Host:nonprofits just trying to fund their their good programming. And also, you can donate. All Everyone
Amy Guest:Yeah. I go to church and people, like, shove stuff in my bag. Like, everyone wants to donate their stuff. I get stuff in the mail. People come to the shop.
Amy Guest:Customers that, you know, live in Chicago who like the concept. And it's good, especially for high end stuff, you know? When people wanna clean out their closet, they they don't want to dump it at goodwill. They want it to be maximized. If I can resell it and get money for it, then they know where it's going, I mean, don't pick the nonprofit, the buyer does.
Amy Guest:But it's filling. They feel like, Oh, well, you know, if you give to savers or if you give to, you don't know if your clothes are gonna get packed up and sent to Africa. I mean, or the global South. If they're good clothes, they probably will be sold. But, you know, there's too many the amount of clothing out there means that it cannot be sold fast enough.
Amy Guest:Right. That is not the way to clean out your closet.
Molly Host:Have you reached capacity as far as, like, how much donations you could take? Because I'm just curious, like, if somebody wants to mail you something, like and you've got all this inventory. I mean, do you have a warehouse?
Amy Guest:So we don't have a warehouse, but now, since last August so I used to do this out of my house and a friend's house, and it just got too much. And so we got this place in Hope Artist Village last August. And so now we can take more things. But it would just it you know, as you know, it kind of fills to capacity. Yeah.
Amy Guest:So we try to move them. I'm gonna have a sale next week. We have pop ups to try to kinda move the lower price stuff as well. But if you wanna donate, I I will never say don't, no to quality pieces or to unusual ones Yeah. Or, you know, cool vintage ones because people that's what people like.
Molly Host:Yeah. What do you look for
Amy Guest:specifically? Well, sometimes people will bring me, like, you know, send me a box of things or a bag of things. And what catches my eye are the brands, not all brands, because there's some designer brands that are very make very cheap clothing. But usually, you know, if it's a designer brand, the resale value will be higher. Some people, that's what they want.
Amy Guest:They're looking for that cheaper I'd resell item with a designer tag. So that will catch my eye. The vintage stuff always catches my eye because the quality is just so much better than what is being made now.
Molly Host:Yeah.
Amy Guest:So I like that. And that's kind of, you know, in some people that's all they shop for. If you go on our our website, we have a vintage section, but we kind of have a little bit of everything. It's mostly $50 and up because of the time it takes to get things online. Know, it's each item is individual and so you have to take pictures and do a description and things like that.
Amy Guest:So I start with the most expensive items that I can get for resale and then work my way back. Unless I forget something really cool. Like sometimes people will just get very unique things and or for example, larger things. So people, there's a lot of people who really are not interested in size four or six, you know, and we have a lot of those items because I think in general, as a generalization, as we get older, we're, you know, shifting things out for perhaps larger sizes or different styles or something, whatever. But if I see a vintage item that's a size like sixteen, that's like golden because sixteen is really a twelve or maybe a because the vintage especially is very small.
Amy Guest:Yeah. So I look for, you know, larger sizes too, just because I wanna, you know, have everyone be able to find something that they like.
Molly Host:Right. Do you also do accessories?
Amy Guest:We have handbags and handbags are great if I get a good one because they're easy to store and, you know, it's no one needs to try any of that stuff on. But handbags, totes, clutches, wallets, things like that, people can donate those as well. We have some jewelry, not a lot, but some. And it just, you know, kind of depends. So I never really know what someone's gonna donate and it's kind of fun.
Amy Guest:That's the fun part of this. You're like, what did I get? The fast fashion brands I won't put online. Sometimes I get them what I, and so if I can't use it, I'll donate it to someplace who can or upcycle it. One thing that's grown out of second serve is something called the sewing circle, which is not a new idea.
Molly Host:Yeah. I was actually gonna bring that up. You mentioned people to give things to you from church and you just said, let's start a sewing service.
Amy Guest:Well, yeah. So the the second serve community, some people have said that they wanted to do mending, and I was gonna have it in my shop. But then there were too many people, so now I have it at the church, my church. You know, I will bring sometimes I'll get something donated that needs some TLC. I'll bring it, and we'll work on some of the stuff there to get it ready to put online.
Amy Guest:And or, you know, if something's in bad condition that can't really be salvaged, I'll hold onto it and then try to use it to make something else. That is, you know, my goal is to have every single piece that is donated to be either sold online and sold to somebody else or upcycled or or re directly donated to people who can use it. I mean, the whole point is to keep things out of at a landfill. I try to do that as much as possible. And then, you know, the final part of this is like the things that people say, well, what do I do with this?
Amy Guest:This is, you know, I it's kind of I can't use this for anything. But but trying to educate people about the options for textile recycling, which are pretty much zero, but there are a few places where individuals can send their clothes to be actually either upcycled or downcycled, but, you know, to try to, you know, have some education about that as well.
Molly Host:Yeah. Doing some research about the quantity, think I it some god awful amount of tonnage, right, that's sent to the global south.
Amy Guest:Mhmm. It's like a big problem. Yeah. And it's not going anywhere. It's only getting bigger.
Amy Guest:And so, yeah, we have to address it. You know, it's it's hard, you know, with the present state of our country. I've been thinking about this a lot, just like writing doing a blog for Second Serve, but there's all these things that we need to address, whether it's consumption, climate change, housing, poverty, discrepancy in wealth, but we are in this state of, like, we need like, we don't have due process. Like, you know, we but as I think about it, I do not think that these issues that we've been addressing trying to address all along should get, you know, bumped to the bottom of the list. I think that while we address the emergency, in my mind, that is our country right now with due process, with the trampling of our constitution, in my opinion, we need to mobilize and speak up.
Amy Guest:But that goes hand in hand. Like, if we can do that, we can do it for climate change and for the planet. -So, I don't think it's one or the other. We need to own, you know, get back in the game with our democracy and our civic involvement. And when we do that, we can address these things because it's our democracy and it's our planet.
Amy Guest:Know, no one's gonna come and save it for us. Right. Clearly. Clearly, no one is coming to save the democracy unless we get up there and start demanding that our voices be heard and we have to do it together. So I think that, I'm not sure why I got on this tangent, but I think that-
Molly Host:I can probably guess.
Amy Guest:It's been on my mind. I mean, what's going on now is so upsetting, but I I think that we can't, you know, lose sight of these other big problems. And we will be if we have the courage to stand up and and get our country back to, know, uphold the rule of law for everybody, we're gonna have the skills and the capability and the gumption push forward the change we wanna see. First of all, cut back to, you said, due process. I am an attorney, and I worked at Rhode Island Legal Services.
Amy Guest:The only place I've worked is Rhode Island Legal Services doing family law stuff. Restraining orders for domestic violence victims, representing parents when they're accused of abuse and neglect from DCYF. If anything, I'm a defense attorney, I would say, but because of that experience.
Molly Host:Starting second serve resale and also serving the public the way you had in a as an attorney, you've kind of lived your life of community servant in a way.
Amy Guest:Yes. It happened to work out that way.
Molly Host:Yeah.
Amy Guest:I guess you could say. I do have a heart for I guess I wanna, you know, I wanna be useful. I I wanna solve problems. You know, I've tried different things. I was a teacher before.
Amy Guest:I was an attorney. And there were parts of that I really liked. And being an attorney, I really liked. But what I'm doing now, I love. I really love it.
Molly Host:You're creating a community. Well, it's Which is really awesome to see. Like, you've got the sewing circle, then you've got your location in Pawtucket. Good I almost said Pawtucket because I'm from Louisiana, in case any of you missed that. The way you've been able to get all of these nonprofits together for donation.
Molly Host:Imagine if that list too was just, I mean, it's great you have a lot of Rhode Island folks, but it'd be even better if you had all a bunch of New England folks and then just kinda spread on out.
Amy Guest:Yeah. We have one, it's Lovelane. I don't know if you've heard of Lovelane. It's in Lincoln, Mass. And that is a therapeutic horse riding organization for kids with special needs or cancer or, you know, all sorts of things.
Amy Guest:That's a great organization. That's our only one in Mass right now.
Molly Host:Really? Yes. Massachusetts, what are you doing?
Amy Guest:I don't know, but we have a lot of customers from Massachusetts. So I'll take some suggestions.
Molly Host:How did you come up with the name second serve?
Amy Guest:So I'm a huge, tennis fan. I took it up late in life, and, I really I love it. I love watching it. And, you know, when I did this and just, you know, the concept of secondhand, the concept of service, I was like Oh, it's perfect.
Molly Host:Yeah.
Amy Guest:And, you know, there's a lot of tennis imagery talking on our website. We a lot of it doesn't make sense, a lot of sense with resale. We have our sales when the grand slams kind of happened throughout the year, the tennis grand slams. But anyway, we're just fans. And there's a lot of great, great vintage tennis stuff out there, like your scarf.
Amy Guest:Yeah. And so that's where it came from. But it was a little bit of a no brainer. Just the the second hand and then the service. It just fit, and it's fun.
Amy Guest:So that's where the name came from.
Molly Host:You've also done a lot or had a lot of, interns, I've noticed. And
Amy Guest:that is through local colleges or We have had some high school kids from Lincoln School, Lincoln School in Providence. School for Girls is one of our partners. And the Lincoln School has a great, environmental club.
Molly Host:Okay. That's cool.
Amy Guest:And so there's a contingent of girls there that want to do stuff, you know, in resale.
Molly Host:They
Amy Guest:also have a, you know, the seniors, they have a senior project for a couple weeks. So I've taken kids for, you know, a couple weeks in May for the last couple years. And they're great, you know, they just bring some enthusiasm, a younger vibe. They pair things, you know, make outfits that I never would or would think to or have time to do. Yeah.
Amy Guest:And they help on social media. They've been great. I've also had, you know, a friend of mine from church is, you know, she's 24. I'm like, can you just stop by and try on a few things? Because the clothes look better when they're on somebody.
Amy Guest:Yeah. So it's just kinda random. You know, I'll I'll take anyone who wants to come in and try try on some clothes, and it's very helpful. And then I've got a friend at Brown now who's done a few things for me. But creating the content to make things interesting on social media, but not only that, I use the the images and the descriptions so you can you know, this helps with pants, primarily.
Amy Guest:Well, with everything. It's just so you can see it on somebody. And that's like an extra step to make it, to make it, the description and the product listing a little more special. Yeah. And I would like to maintain sort of this quality control of putting out good clothing and making it look good online, to not skimp on measurements, to not skip on pictures, to disclose absolutely everything.
Amy Guest:I want people to come because it's a good quality place to shop. It's fun, it's informative, it's not like, you know, in The RealReal, you look at these things when you say, Oh, it's a medium. Oh, so and so brand mediums fit to size. Like, they won't they don't put the measurements anymore because it's too much. It's like, you know, the volume that they have.
Amy Guest:But, like, I never wanna do that. I wanna just do what I can. And, you know, no one's making money here. This is a volunteer organization. I am not under the gun to put a certain number of product listings out.
Amy Guest:So I do what I can. I wanna make it good. And then, you know, maybe I grow slowly, but I'm okay with that too.
Molly Host:Yeah. It's better to have a slow burn. And honestly, that's what I keep hearing from a lot of people. So the Sewing Circle, they just do this for fun. They're not doing anything other than getting together on a specific day and just having a good time, meeting people.
Amy Guest:Yeah. Sewing circle is like so much joy.
Molly Host:Yeah. So and I tell You have stop by sometimes.
Amy Guest:You have to. I tell everyone about it, and I say, you know and sometimes people will be like, yes, I have all these projects. I never get to them. If I had a time set aside, I could just work on them myself. Some people say, I don't have any skills.
Amy Guest:I say, I have very limited skills. There's people there who have more skills. I have always used a needle and thread. I'm just starting to use a sewing machine. But you can go and you can learn stuff.
Amy Guest:You can go and just hang out. The people there have done lots of things for second serve. I like I think I mentioned before I loose hem or small repair holes or whatever from donations. People will fix them there for me because they're really quick and I'm very grateful and I'll send them back and put them up online. The latest thing that I am the beneficiary of is that we someone introduced a fabric bag, scrap fabric bags project.
Amy Guest:And so a lot of those and it's just like a pillowcase with with a a grosgrain ribbon at the top, like a drawstring. I'm trying to use that, for all of my, in person events just so I don't have to buy paper anymore. And they're great. I have these little second serve patches and we've been sewing them on and it's, but it's not just for second serve. I mean, anything I bring there, you know, people can take home and work on it.
Amy Guest:It doesn't have to come back to me. It can, for the site, but it's just, these are, you know, maybe, clothing that needs TLC, but it's not gonna, it's gonna end up where someone's gonna use it. Yeah. Or we'll cut it up, you know, like, I had a bunch of sweater, a cashmere sweaters that we made, that had we had a bunch of moth holes in them, and we upcycled them into mittens. When I say I
Molly Host:really think I saw that on Instagram.
Amy Guest:When I say we, I do not mean me. Other people did. I sort of am kind of floating around, but like, you know, people wanna be there. I had one lady say, you know, after COVID, I didn't really like leave the house that much. And I did my, you know, I read at home and I did stuff at home.
Amy Guest:And it's just nice to find a place where you can meet Yeah. New people in like a low pressure way, you know, and it You're not expected to pay. No. It's just like buy anything. Yeah.
Amy Guest:And someone, you know, some people bring craft stuff. Like, it's it's like anyone can come. Everyone is welcome. But I think that why it's I like it from the, you know, upcycling and and using scraps point of view. But I also just like it from a community point of view in a day and age where we need to talk to one another, we need to reach out to one another on a personal basis in person to strengthen ties that successful community and country and, you know, a way of life that we want.
Amy Guest:We are going to have to be able to converse and recognize each other as humans on a very, like, basic level. Even if we don't agree on a lot on everything. We don't have to.
Molly Host:Yeah. Unless it's human rights. Then I don't know.
Amy Guest:Hopefully, we you know, I have found that there are things there's always gonna be something. Yeah.
Molly Host:There
Amy Guest:is. And, you know, and I can't imagine I mean, someone who's against human rights or against resale, like, they're not coming to my sewing store. Like, they're not interested. True. True.
Amy Guest:They they would be welcome because I would love the channel to convert them. I just think more, opportunities like that would be Yeah. Would be good because
Molly Host:We're craving it as a society. Society. And I I mentioned mentioned this this last episode that we're in an epidemic of convenience. It's hard. And it's definitely something you gotta pull back from.
Amy Guest:Yeah. And it's sort of like insidious. But so, yeah. I mean, checking out, it's also just like just too much data.
Molly Host:It is. I think we've hit a tipping point to where we need to tip the scale of tech being useful and also bringing humanity back to where it needs to be. Yeah.
Amy Guest:It's something else we need to own ourselves and do it ourselves because no one else is gonna do it.
Molly Host:Yeah.
Amy Guest:Amazon and and places like it will just get more efficient.
Molly Host:And you have to actually train yourself to not have such a short attention span. I've definitely noticed that in my own- my own impatience and AD- I have ADHD, so it's even worse for me sometimes, but Yeah.
Amy Guest:I mean, I think it's a challenge to check out and not feel like you have to substitute it with something. Like, the feeling of being bored or downtime is so beneficial. It's not valued in our culture that says you have to be efficient all of the time. One thing that helps me is watching baseball on TV, and it's shorter than it used to be. I wish it were longer.
Amy Guest:Now they have a pitch clock. But like, I will zone out, you know. I love going to games too, but like, just having a huge block of time. And I am some You know, some times I'm I will be on my phone or I'll be doing a crossword or something, but like, baseball season chills me out. Dread Sox aren't doing that great, but I mean, in general, like, trying to find the activity that can get you back on track to a place that feels balanced for for you, whatever that means, you know?
Molly Host:I think sewing circles are a great great place to find that.
Amy Guest:Yes. It's been great.
Molly Host:And then where could people find it? It's what church is it?
Amy Guest:It's Central Congregational Church in Providence on, let's see, 296 Angel Street. Our next one is April 26, So not this Saturday, but next from ten to twelve. You can also go on secondserveresale.org and
Molly Host:Depending on when this airs, that may have may be in the past. So just check your Instagram.
Amy Guest:Yeah. Check Instagram or just look at the banner on the website. It should be up there. Or, you know, the drop down menu will have sewing circle, and it will have the next date.
Molly Host:Perfect.
Amy Guest:We welcome you to come. It will it would be fun to see.
Molly Host:I'll link it in the show note Awesome. Just so there'll be no question.
Amy Guest:Awesome. No.
Molly Host:I think it's great. I'm seeing it'll pop up a lot more frequently now, like third spaces and people are coming together. And I think it's kind of happened a little bit subconsciously and because people are like, oh, I'm so sick of the Internet. Mhmm. But also not at the same time.
Molly Host:It's extremely useful unless you let it, like, take you.
Amy Guest:Well, there's definitely like, that's how we met. I mean, that's there is a community. I was never on Instagram bef until Second Serve, resale. And there is definitely a a nice community of support out there. I mean, I found it certainly for sustainable fashion and that is the biggest community.
Amy Guest:You know, I'm trying to think of people I know in person that I see on the daily. Not a lot of people. You know, in my daily life, I'm kind of doing it myself or with, you know, friends that help or volunteers. But, you know, someone's always on, like, you know, the Close Horse podcast, the Sustainable Fashion Forum. You know, there's tons of them.
Amy Guest:And And there's so
Molly Host:many local businesses around here that are doing really cool stuff as well. And people don't realize, you know, second serve does a lot, right? And you're doing it yourself, like you said, unless you have a couple people helping you. These are very isolated businesses. Absolutely.
Molly Host:But like, and we're not getting rich quick. So trust that. Also, it is kind of lonely. I talked about that with my last guest, you know, like sometime and and it's so nice to have that community, surprisingly, on Instagram.
Amy Guest:Yeah. And then there's within, Instagram or or maybe I was getting an email. The Conscious Fashion Collective, I joined that. And it's a super chill group of people. And it's just nice to have a sounding board, you know?
Amy Guest:I think my point is within Instagram, just sort of being friends with people, you can be more involved, be members of certain communities or whatever. That can help you give you feedback, give you pointers, especially, you know, small businesses, people trying to make connections, people trying to find jobs. I'm not trying to find a job. I really I like meeting people. I am not a networker at all.
Molly Host:Same. I if I wanna meet you, it's because I wanna be your friend.
Amy Guest:Exactly. Honestly. Because if I need I mean, I'll it'll come. You know what? Or it won't.
Amy Guest:Yeah. I mean, I just I just am not that way. I guess I've never really have been, but
Molly Host:Same. If I need to meet somebody, whether that's, like, for a a job, I just go talk to them. I don't care who they are.
Amy Guest:Yeah. And I my, I have a friend on my board who always kinda pushes me to maybe do a little more. And, like, doing this is I mean, this is fun, though. Like, I'm not on LinkedIn. And she's like, you gotta be on LinkedIn.
Amy Guest:Like and I and I said, I don't
Molly Host:LinkedIn is like a Facebook in a suit. Oh my gosh. It's so bad.
Amy Guest:I can't. I'm already on on Instagram and on Facebook. I cannot do it. So part of this is it is very, like, I think you have to stay true to what you're excited about.
Molly Host:Yeah.
Amy Guest:And we talked about this, you know, with with your pivots and stuff, but there's a lot to cover. I mean and there's different ways of covering it, whether you're educating people, you're bringing people together, you're, you know, letting people know about different, resell opportunities or or whatever it is. There's a lot of different, ways to set yourself up. And I think that as you're in the space, you gotta sort of tweak it so you like it because, you know, it's an uphill battle like what we're trying to do. Yeah.
Amy Guest:So you gotta get your your juice or whatever it is, like, that makes you happy. And you have to go at the pace that that you can handle. And so that's why you said, I'm saying no to to being I mean, maybe I'll someday change my mind, but, like, I have no plans to
Molly Host:Yeah.
Amy Guest:To do any of that. I mean, I try to do social media. I don't do it well. And interns, hopefully, can help me with that. But,
Molly Host:I don't do it well either. I don't know what you I
Amy Guest:like yours. You do you do good videos.
Molly Host:Oh, thank you. But I feel like
Amy Guest:the music is so good too. Unhinged. Oh, I'm just like,
Molly Host:oh, and
Amy Guest:I dropping my phone and like doing like the bare minimum or having a pop up. I wanna see you blah, blah, blah. It works
Molly Host:because I see it. It comes on my feed. Well, that's good. And then, know, I always know that whenever you post a video that you're gonna get down to business about what you gotta say. Yeah.
Molly Host:So I I appreciate that format.
Amy Guest:Oh, well, that's all I have.
Molly Host:I mean, honestly, the being yourself is like
Amy Guest:Yes. It's authentic. That's for sure.
Molly Host:Yeah. That you could do. Like, you know, all the extra stuff is is just like apps, bells and whistles.
Amy Guest:I
Molly Host:don't do any of that on my own. I just plug it into an app.
Amy Guest:Right.
Molly Host:And I'm like, oh, that's funny. We'll just go with it.
Amy Guest:Yep. I
Molly Host:think people don't also realize like if they wanna resell clothes, they actually have to prep them for resale. That doesn't mean just washing them. And so the fact that you have the sewing circle that's essentially helping you out but also having a great time doing it, making new friends is awesome. And it's also a load off of you.
Amy Guest:Yeah. I mean, it's, just a nice way to spread it around, to to sort of share the message or build up the message of of reuse and, and resell and get people involved. You know, at the end of the day, it's about, you know, making friends with people.
Molly Host:-MICHAEL: Yeah.
Amy Guest:And then they're, like, more interested. You know? They're like, Wait, I know you now. What do you do again? You know?
Amy Guest:And it's fun. Like, it's just nice to make those kinds of connections, and then you start talking about things you're both interested in.
Molly Host:And people need to not underestimate the word-of-mouth because I would almost say that it's at least locally, that's way more impactful than social media.
Amy Guest:Oh my gosh. Yes. I mean, you know, what what I would love is that someone has a good experience either in Sewing Circle or buying something or donating something, and then they go tell their friend about it. That is the best. Yeah.
Amy Guest:They just tell their good friend about it.
Molly Host:What's Second Serves mission?
Amy Guest:Our mission is to reduce the consumption of new clothing items by promoting resale. Basically, that is it in a nutshell. And we do this by, offering the incentive to buyers or to customers that they can pick a nonprofit to send 85% of the profits on our online store. That's how we do it.
Molly Host:So do you have any sort of idea of your local impact?
Amy Guest:For us, I can measure, you know, sales. Our sales have gone up every year. And the amount we give to nonprofits has gone up every year. So that's good. Last year was probably $25,000 in sales, not but we gave $17,000 to nonprofits.
Amy Guest:So, you know, that's a chunk of change, but why I think that is meaningful because of how it came about. You know? So I think that if I can continue to grow this, it should be able to work and we, you know, make send more money and and make more money each year. It should be able we can should be able to do this on a larger scale. And why wouldn't that be a good thing?
Molly Host:Yeah.
Amy Guest:It has had an impact on the community. I feel lucky that I had been, you know, a huge beneficiary of this. You know, we talked about the sewing circle and the joy that that brings, but also learning about nonprofits, what they're doing, making connections with people who are doing really great work across the country. And also the donors. I've had just tremendous experiences with people giving me stuff.
Amy Guest:I had a gentleman about a year ago from The Cape drive a whole Volvo, wardrobe or collection from his wife that had passed recently. And it was just an amazing interaction. He it was you know, he brought all this stuff into my house. We were carrying it in, and and it was all her things. And it was a way that he was processing loss.
Amy Guest:And it was a way that I was getting to know his wife, Virginia. I wrote a blog about this one. Buy her things. And it was very touching. I feel honored that I was a part of that.
Amy Guest:And I think outside of the donation of specific physical pieces of clothing, that helps that man. And he You know, I'm It's a good day when you can make someone feel good and you can be a part of facilitating that. -But as I said, you know, I benefited from just being a part of that. And it just really was a good feeling. So there's instances like that that you can't really
Molly Host:Quantify. Yeah, can't quantify.
Amy Guest:It's not on a chart. But, you know, like I said before, we wanna convert people to buy resale at Second Serve or or not, you know? And and so if you if you have an experience with us that's good, and you're like, oh, I might try resale again, and you go shop someplace else. That's a win.
Molly Host:Because we have the numbers on how much people spend in Massachusetts on clothes Mhmm. From, like, big box stores. Mhmm. I'd love to see that number compared to with all of the secondhand and vintage sellers.
Amy Guest:Mhmm.
Molly Host:Even upcyclers to see the dip the the delta between the two, but also I know secondhand and upcycled and and remade clothes are on a massive upswing, which is great. I just I would love to put numbers behind it for but I would like like, maybe we should have a coalition. We're not trading secrets. We're just like we wanna know. What is that number?
Amy Guest:Yeah. That sounds like a job for so I don't know if this is gonna happen because higher education is getting slashed with funding. But Bryant University, their seniors do, no, maybe it's their freshman. At the end of their freshman year, there's a project that they do and they are paired with an organization for profit and nonprofit. And I spoke with the professor who heads that up, but you know, those kinds of tasks, like that would be good because you know, for a class who has taken accounting, marketing, and all this other business stuff to come in and do that kind of stuff that I don't have time to do or gather that stuff that, you know,
Molly Host:people
