There must be something about growing up in Vermont and breathing in all of the fresh air that’s creating a wave of creative young entrepreneurs and socially responsible, forward thinkers.  Not long ago, Vermont’s Corrine Prevot, founder of SKIDA was named as a rising entrepreneurial star by Forbes Magazine and noted for her Plus One [+1] project. Now, another entrepreneur with Vermont roots is set to rock the reused clothing “buy-sell-trade” scene.

Online Used/Recycled Upscale Clothing Store ‘Twice’ Co-Founder, Noah Ready-Campbell 

NEKMoms.com Publisher, Julie Tower-Pierce, had an opportunity to catch up with Vermont born, Noah Ready-Campbell, co-founder of Twice, and his marketing guru Alexandra Nichols over the weekend.  Hat tip to the Vermont Organic Farmer Mom who let NEKMoms.com know about Noah, his Northeast Kingdom family connection, and, of course, his totally fabulous company, Twice!

Noah is proof that growing up in the Green Mountain State, where ‘doing good,’ helping others, and creative thinking are practically the ways of life, can lead to meaningful success.  Inspired by his childhood friend’s father, a Ben & Jerry’s co-founder, Noah knew early on that he wanted to start a business, remarking that “a lot of people in Vermont are more socially minded.”  It was very important to Noah to “start a company that was about helping people and not about taking advantage of people.”

Doing Good as a Company, Finding Success, and Really Helping People.

Though he hasn’t lived in Vermont all of his life, social responsibility is a theme that Twice’s CEO, Noah Ready-Campbell, has taken from Vermont with him across the Country to California’s San Francisco.  That’s where Twice, the premium online recycled clothing store, is headquartered.  Twice is a model for social responsibility–think reduce, reuse and recycle.  According to Noah, “Clothing is a top category that is filling landfills.  The average family throws out about 175 pounds of clothing each year.”  Twice can save a lot of resources, including keeping clothing out of landfills by allowing people to mail in clothing they no longer want for resale, and by reducing how much new clothing needs to be created.  Twice can help the planet and people, not to mention provide a low cost, lower impact, eco-conscious alternative to going to the mall, according to Noah.

Click over to Twice and you’ll immediately notice, Twice just isn’t your typical used clothing store.  Noah, who grew up wearing clothes purchased from second-hand stores, like Goodwill, in order to stretch the family budget, says that, “there has been a shift in the way people think about [buying second hand clothing].  Vintage is cool and hip.”  Though people may “conjure up an image of a poorly lit basement,” it’s immediately clear that Twice is far from this–it’s not your grandmother’s used clothing store.

Not only does Twice’s online store depict top-quality women’s clothes, neatly hung for display, but it also has an upscale…oh, so, so delicious…boutique (“premium”) shopping feel.  Even better, however, the prices are absolutely incredible, especially for the quality and brands.  Really!  Forget about post-shopping guilt (hey, we all know that post credit-card swipe feeling)!  Twice’s Co-Founder, Noah Ready-Campbell, enthusiastically says that, consumers in Twice’s target market (ages 19-35) who visit the online store can see “concrete tangible evidence that buying second hand makes sense.”       

On top of Twice’s brands and prices, this is a company that is built with customer service and ‘customer experience’ in mind–is this company too good to be true?!?  The company offers 24-hr customer service, an 800 number, people answering email “all of the time” and reviews.  Noah says that it’s important to him–and a company priority–“to focus a lot on customer service.”  He says Twice wants people to “feel like they can trust us, and that we will make it right.”  Looking to Zappos as a customer service role model, Twice has created a generous return policy, including flexible, easy returns, refunds and paid return shipping.

Are You Ready to Shop ‘Till You Drop at Twice?  

You know you are dying to skip over to Twice.  So, why not take this sweet coupon code with you:  NEK20.  A huge thank you to Noah and Alex for extending NEKMoms.com readers 20% off!  But HURRY, HURRY, HURRY!  This offer is good Monday, June 18th through Thursday, June 21st only!  

Happy Shopping at Twice! Keep on doing your part for the planet and supporting businesses that do good!

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Disclaimer:  

NEK Moms abides by word of mouth marketing standards and discloses when compensation is provided to provide opinion on products or services. A thank you gift was extended by the company, but that gift did not induce the writing of this post.  Any views or opinions expressed on this blog are those of NEKMoms.com.   Any product, claim, statistic or representation about products or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. NEKMoms makes no warranties whatsoever.  For more information, click over to NEKMoms.com disclosure policy.