American premium workwear brand Carhartt has started a platform for consumer trade-ins and resale to extend the life of its products, in collaboration with resale platform Trove.

According to Carhartt, the "Carhartt Reworked" program will be the first branded resale platform in the workwear sector and will aid in the company's sustainability efforts "by developing a circular recommerce model that extends the life of its robust gear and eliminates clothing waste".

Gretchen R. Valade, director of Sustainability at Carhartt, said that “Carhartt Reworked" is an extension of their mission to provide the durability and dependability that hardworking people know and appreciate while minimizing their environmental footprint. Trove's expertise in recommerce and circular business allows them to keep Carhartt items out of landfills and in the hands of those who need them.

According to Carhartt, the project will be based on products that consumers trade-in, return, and have insufficient inventory. Carharrt products that are less than ten years old and have an initial MSRP of $50 or more will be accepted by the manufacturer. Outerwear, shirt jackets, bibs and overalls, hoodies, sweatshirts, and pants are among the product categories.

Consumers who swap their gear will receive a digital gift card that can be used at any Carhartt corporate store, on reworked.carhartt.com, or on the main Carhartt website. Any equipment that cannot be traded in will be appropriately recycled or given to keep fabric out of landfills.

Prior to being introduced to all Carhartt locations in 2023, the trade-in service will be tested in six stores throughout the US. The firm anticipates that the program will eventually change to accept trade-ins via online mail-in.

The program will be supported by Trove's Recommerce Operating System, which can process millions of products for Carhartt and provides end-to-end item intelligence to provide scaled, sustainable growth inside Carhartt's distinctive ecosystem.

Gayle Tait, chief executive of Trove, said that it feels logical to build a solution to extend the life of such tough gear because Carhartt is known for its high-quality fabric and strong durability requirements, meant to survive the test of time.