In early 2022, The North Face approached Archive in search of a new partner to manage their Renewed business. Renewed initially launched in 2018 with the goal of enabling returned or damaged items to be repaired, recycled, or resold—ensuring products had a second life and avoided landfills. When the team at The North Face was ready to scale the program in a bigger way, they needed a partner that could not only deliver a high-quality ecommerce experience, but also execute the launch of a variety of resale models globally, such as peer-to-peer, take-back, and managed returns.
Archive was uniquely capable of delivering on these objectives, and within just 2 months, the Renewed website relaunched on Archive’s proprietary resale operating system and Warehouse Management System (WMS). To execute on the logistical side of the Renewed program, Archive integrated with Tersus Solutions. As the backbone of textile circularity, Tersus Solutions enables premium brands to participate in the circular economy through offering the world’s most advanced and environmentally friendly cleaning technology alongside a full suite of textile reclamation and single SKU logistics solutions. By decoupling software from logistics and instead integrating with world-leading logistics providers around the world, Archive can provide the best economics for brands.
The North Face wanted to ensure the design and functionality of their resale website was both on-brand and prioritized the customer experience. Archive designed a customized e-commerce storefront that looks and feels authentic to the brand and ensures the highest quality user experience for both sellers and buyers. The North Face has tens of thousands of SKU-style combinations. But, by aggregating, cleaning, and normalizing all historical data received from a brand, Archive has the unique ability to create a high integrity data source that populates product listings with accurate item information, photography, and more. These features greatly enhance the selling and browsing experience, which is critical for engaging customers and maximizing conversion.
Archive’s flexibility, agility, technical expertise, and partnership with Tersus, the leading single SKU logistics provider in the US, was required to meet the brand’s aspirations to innovate and scale Renewed to new geographies, product categories, and resale models.
Archive’s proprietary WMS manages all unique aspects of single SKU warehouse and inventory operations for resale, including product sorting, identification, cleaning, repair, photography, pricing, order fulfillment and handling of returns. In just six months, the WMS has processed over 72,000 items for The North Face.
In October 2022, The North Face rolled out their Renewed Take-Back program, which allows XPLR Pass members to bring in pre-loved brand items into stores and an instant shopping credit credit, across 105 retail and outlet stores in the U.S. and Canada. The program is powered by Archive’s proprietary Retail App, through which customers scan a QR code on their phone, follow a few quick prompts, and are issued a credit to use on their next purchase. To execute the shopping credit requirement, Archive integrated directly with The North Face’s global gift card provider, one of many integrations built to accommodate existing brand relationships. Items received from the take-back program are shipped to Tersus to be processed, cleaned, and re-sold.
The Archive partnership model is collaborative and proactive, supporting brand partners continuously post-launch. The North Face was excited to work with a partner with whom they could establish goals and KPIs, test site improvements, frequently refresh merchandising and curation, and continuously add new technologies to unlock new resale channels. Archive continues to launch new features and enhance the product for all brand partners based on trends and data.
At Archive, we partner with brands to build programs that meet their unique business objectives. Whether you already have a vision or are just starting to think about circularity, we’d love to hear from you! Reach out to our team at info@archiveresale.co.
