Joe Whitten, Co-Founder and CEO of Apparel Impact, is on a mission—to focus on reuse, recycling, upcycling, and downcycling of textiles, including clothing, shoes, accessories, and linens. Growing steadily since its inception, Joe talks about Apparel Impact’s diversion rates, industry challenges, and expanding their footprint.
Discuss the history and creation of Apparel Impact: I founded Apparel Impact in 2015 with my dad, Ken, with the goal of disrupting an industry that hadn’t evolved in decades. Textile waste has increased nearly tenfold since 1991, yet most of the industry still operates the same way it did back then. At the same time, clothing insecurity continues to affect families all across the U.S., and that combination of problems made it clear that change was needed.
When I started the company, I was still working full-time elsewhere. On weekends, I went door to door with just an information/educational card and an empty trash bag, letting people know I’d be back the following weekend to collect any clothing, shoes, or accessories they no longer wanted. That first week, I reached about a thousand homes and came back to nearly 500 bags of clothing—and that is how Apparel Impact began.
From there, I built a few small drop-off bins and placed them at locations around Manchester, NH to make reusing and recycling easier, and the company has grown steadily every year since 2015. Over the last five years, we have averaged more than 25 percent annual growth, expanding into Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. Our New York hub, launched in 2021, has already doubled its diversion totals.
In 2024, we diverted 17.5 million pounds of textiles from landfills and provided clothing to more than 4,000 people in need. It all started with one bag at a time, and that same grassroots focus still drives everything we do today.
How does Apparel Impact collect and process used textiles? Apparel Impact focuses on reuse, recycling, upcycling, and downcycling of textiles, including clothing, shoes, accessories, and linens. If someone can wear it or use it in their home, it can be reused or recycled. Collection happens through a network of public drop-off locations, scheduled site pickups, clothing drives, and home collections in select regions.
We also provide corporate recycling services for businesses that need responsible ways to upcycle or downcycle textiles instead of sending them to landfills. This includes items like employee uniforms, branded apparel, hotel and restaurant linens, damaged retail returns, and promotional clothing. This part of our work continues to grow as more companies look for practical, measurable sustainability solutions they can stand behind.
After collection, all textiles are graded, sorted, and directed to their highest and best use, whether that’s reuse, upcycling, or downcycling. Some of this work happens at our local facilities, while other materials are handled through trusted grading and recycling partners. Every decision is made with the goal of maximizing impact, keeping material in use as long as possible, and minimizing waste.
Apparel Impact always prioritizes reuse first. Through our Community Impact Program, we provide clothing directly to people in need. With our Municipal Impact Program (MIP), we partner with towns to create a recycling service, which includes local wardrobe access through Apparel Impact. This provides packaged wardrobes for residents while helping municipalities meet diversion goals.
How does Apparel Impact differ from traditional thrift or donation services? Apparel Impact was created to stand apart from the traditional model and to challenge an industry that had become complacent. Our mission is to fight clothing waste and reduce clothing insecurity. Unlike thrift operations, we do not operate storefronts; we actually service many of them, collecting unsellable or excess materials from organizations like Goodwill to ensure nothing is wasted.
We built Apparel Impact to be the company that does things differently—to lead with consistency, transparency, and service. Most recyclers focus solely on bin collection with little community involvement. Apparel Impact, on the other hand, emphasizes education, accessibility, and transparency. It educates the public on textile reuse and recycling best practices, and it brings clothing recovery programs to small towns as well as large cities—something that few companies have ever prioritized.
As a result, we are proud of the fact that Apparel Impact has earned recognition as SBA Business of the Year, NH Business Magazine’s Business of the Year, Aquarion Environmental Champion, and Easterseals Business of the Year, among others.
How is Apparel Impact addressing fast fashion’s waste problem? Education is at the heart of Apparel Impact’s approach to combating fast fashion. Through public speaking, community programs, and social media outreach, we help people understand the true cost of clothing waste.
One of our most unique initiatives is Team Impact! This is the first U.S. comic book series dedicated to teaching grades 1 through 6 about textile recycling and sustainability through comic-style storytelling. It’s a fun and effective way to inspire the next generation to think differently about clothing. Team Impact was created in late 2023, with the first issue released in 2024. The idea came from our work with schools and the growing number of outreach requests focused on children. I recognized that an educational comic book could be a powerful way to teach kids about textile waste in a format they would actually enjoy, while also supporting Apparel Impact’s broader mission.
The Team Impact series is written, developed, and published by Apparel Impact, with artwork and visuals created in collaboration with professional artists. Jessie Crowe, Apparel Impact’s Chief of Staff, played a key role in the writing and story development.
We partner directly with schools to distribute the comics. Schools that host Apparel Impact drop off locations receive the Team Impact series at no cost, either to give to students or to incorporate into classroom learning. In some cases, we are invited into schools to speak with students, and the comic books are provided as part of that educational outreach.
Beyond education, Apparel Impact continues to innovate through our Alpine Collection; an upcycled brand that transforms worn-out winter gear into new, functional products like bags and accessories. We’re still in the early stages of building out our upcycling capabilities, with a larger rollout planned for early 2026. For now, we work with a small number of trusted partners, including Drift Collective, a New Hampshire based upcycling company, to develop select products; keeping production close to home.
Where products are sold depends on the item and the customer. Some are made specifically for retail shops at ski resorts, mountains, or partner locations using their retired gear. As part of our 2026 website relaunch, we’ll also introduce an online shop featuring select Alpine Collection products. From there, the collection will grow based on demand, material availability, and what best supports keeping products local, useful, and impactful.
The Alpine Collection is a long term investment in keeping more material in the U.S. What exists today is just the starting point. We also have a TrueGrade™ division, which is a new grading and sorting expansion aimed at increasing reuse and circular recovery. In addition, an additional large-scale project focused on combating fast fashion will be announced in mid-2026.
What are the biggest challenges in textile recycling? How much textile waste has Apparel Impact diverted from landfills to date? The biggest challenge is that textile recycling operates within a global market; when other countries face economic or infrastructure issues, they ripple through local markets immediately. This volatility often makes long-term planning difficult.
Infrastructure is another obstacle. To increase diversion, recycling has to be easier than throwing something away. That takes access, awareness, and reliability—all three at once. Considering that, Apparel Impact, so far, has diverted more than 90 million pounds of textiles from landfills and is on pace to cross 100 million pounds within a few months.
Strong partnerships with private businesses and municipalities have been key. Municipal partners benefit from free collection, site evaluation, and annual environmental impact reports, making participation both simple and measurable. A standout example is Haverhill, NH, which partnered with Apparel Impact to launch a single drop-off site at Town Hall. Within a year, the town of 4,500 people diverted 70 tons of textiles; 42 percent of its total textile waste, from the waste stream, and became New Hampshire’s fastest-growing diversion community.
What partnerships or collaborations have been most effective in scaling your impact? Apparel Impact’s success has been built on partnerships that value transparency and shared mission. Municipal partnerships have been instrumental, allowing towns to meet waste reduction goals while providing direct clothing access to residents.
Partnerships with local businesses, schools, and nonprofit organizations have also been key. Each adds a new channel for awareness and accessibility. When organizations focus on the same goal, keeping textiles out of the trash and putting clothing into the hands of people who need it, real impact happens fast.
Photos courtesy of Apparel Impact.
How can schools, businesses, or municipalities get involved? Participation is simple. Apparel Impact handles the entire process—from site evaluation and drop-off placement to collection, reporting, and communication. Municipalities and schools just need to open the conversation and help approve accessible, visible locations.
Businesses and schools can also host clothing drives or become collection partners, helping to raise awareness while contributing to measurable local impact. Apparel Impact provides free services and shares annual community and environmental reports, showing exactly how much waste was diverted and what impact those results created.
What are your future plans for the organization? Growth is a constant for Apparel Impact. We are contining to expand our reach, regional footprint, and service offerings while deepening our social and environmental impact. In the next 18 months, we expect to double the number of people provided clothing, reaching 8,000 to 9,000 individuals annually, while growing its upcycling, sorting, grading, and municipal partnership programs.
We are also exploring Rhode Island as its potential seventh state, citing strong interest and alignment in statewide textile recovery goals. There’s a lot to announce, but timing is everything in this industry. What matters most is that we keep doing what we set out to do—reduce clothing waste and end clothing insecurity, one community at a time. | WA
For more information, call (603) 505-4779 or e-mail [email protected].