Q&A With Cycla CEO Trish Ellison

Patricia Ellison may be the president of Cycla today, but her journey into the world of thrift and clothing recycling began long before she was born.

Patricia Ellison, CEO Cycla LLC

When did your interest in recycling clothing begin? 

The Ellison family's legacy in thrift dates back to the 1930s.  My grandfather’s siblings were trained up in thrift by selling used men's business suits and accessories during the Great Depression. Their wives would mend and sew buttons on the suits and prepare them for resale. Each time another sibling would leave home they were mentored and trained in thrift. Eventually, most of them opened their own thrift stores and worked with a variety of charities nationwide, many of which continue to this day.

My father was an agriculture engineer for the government and our family was fortunate enough to live abroad in Nepal, Libya and Nigeria.  This combined family experience motivated each of us to learn about and better understand the world around us.  In 1968 my dad retired and joined his parent’s thrift business.  I spent my summers helping my parents open thrift stores.  We used to play and take naps on top of the textile bales.  Our parents usually put us to work cleaning bins and sorting clothing to keep us out of trouble.

One of my favorite childhood memories is discovering new things in my grandmother's sewing box. My grandmother was a full partner alongside my grandfather in the thrift stores and would often mend clothing in the back room of the stores.  She always carried a sewing box full of buttons and other trinkets. When she came to visit, I couldn't wait to look through the sewing box and see the new treasures she had collected.   I still have her button supply in with my sewing to this day.  

What was your journey to Cycla? 

I worked for Teledyne Water Pik in Fort Collins when my second child was born. When my son turned 5, I decided to make a career change that would allow me to focus more on family.  I joined the family business and started working with my brothers and the thrift stores.  

In 2001 I became interested in book recycling.  Savers owned a chain of stores that also sold used books on Amazon.  At the time, Amazon was primarily selling used books online.   Savers assisted me in understanding the book market and I began selling used books out of my basement, which I quickly outgrew and moved to the garage, then a warehouse, and eventually, a bigger warehouse.  

While I was operating the used book business, my family sold our national thrift store chain.  At that time I decided to launch my own company to focus on thrift store reuse and recycling solutions.  

In 2012, I sold the book recycling business to focus solely on Cycla. 

What is something that people misunderstand about the business of thrift?  

Thrift has been in existence since the 1920s when merchants traveled by horse-drawn carts to collect household rugs, carpets, and other recyclable household textiles that could be converted to fiber.  The secondary materials industry has been around for a long time and we like to tout that  "we were green" before green was green. 

Thrift is not a new business. The difference today is that consumers are taking a more active part in the reuse solution.  Consumers have always been partners with the thrift industry by donating their clothing and other household goods to either their favorite charity or their favorite thrift store.  Our industry’s growth is directly correlated to consumers’ consumption and their increased spending with the onset of fast fashion.

Consumers may not fully understand or appreciate the overall waste stream challenges that thrift stores manage on a daily basis.  It is by necessity that thrift stores partner with downstream collectors, consolidators and graders to avoid placing reusable products into the landfill.  Without partners like Cycla, the thrifts would have to landfill large volumes of “reusable” material locally.  We should be re-educating consumers,  that they have a full functioning  reuse and recycling solution at their fingertips.  They should be donating their household articles to a charity or thrift store of their choice to support their local reuse initiatives..  If they donate their unwanted household gems wisely to thrift, their garments  will get a 2nd chance at life in its original reuse form; repurposed and redesigned; converted to a new product; or deconstructed for its fiber and other raw materials.  

The secondary thrift markets are ever-changing and adapting to handle the upstream products being developed and sold.  We are constantly watching new technologies, fast fashion and designing with new material blends.  It is a never-ending process to upgrade production systems to handle and plan for new products arriving in our markets every day...  

How has thrift changed over the years? 

In my youth, secondhand clothing was stigmatized, but today it's considered vintage. My parents were proud of their business,  but rarely promoted or shared their business achievements and successes within their local community. 

There is also an age-old misunderstanding that charity and for-profit thrift stores get clothing and other products for free and sell them for a huge profit. In reality, there are costs associated with thrift businesses just like any other business. Charity contracts, real estate, labor, collection systems, IT, insurance, taxes, etc. are part of overhead.   3rd party charity partners receive regular funding from thrift stores. There are numerous large to small charities that would not exist today without the funding generated from thrift stores. 

What do you think is most exciting about the industry's future?

I'm excited that the fashion industry is getting involved in researching & developing end-of-life solutions for their brands.   Manufacturers are starting to research more sustainable textile and product blends that can extend the life of a garment or footwear while reducing the carbon footprint and environmental impact associated with that product’s life cycle. Nike has a great product stewardship program that has generated positive change. Nike deconstructs their shoe returns to recycle their materials. They discovered that some materials such as glue, in their manufacturing process, were not recycling-friendly and hindered their program. They redesigned the shoe to replace the glue... It's not just about fashion anymore. Responsible fashion and sustainability initiatives promote quality products that extend the life for reuse.  The fashion industry’s design initiatives that promote sustainable textile blends; promote quality over volume and develop deconstruction methods for end-of-life materials, will move us 3 steps closer to a sustainable solution for textiles and footwear waste.

What's your favorite thing to thrift? 

I always look for wool plaid Pendleton shirt jackets and I love finding them.  They have great pockets that are the right size for all my gadgets and they last forever.