Rebuilding Retail: How Emily Gittins Is Turning Fashion Waste Into Big Business

In this episode of The Retail Pilot, host Ken Pilot welcomes Emily Gittins, Co-founder and CEO of Archive — a technology company transforming fashion's relationship with resale. With a deep background in mathematics, environmental science, and business, Emily takes us through her journey from Cambridge to BCG to Google X, and eventually to co-founding Archive with a bold vision: enable brands to profit from resale and reduce fashion waste at scale.

Emily unpacks how Archive partners with top brands like The North Face, Oscar de la Renta, and New Balance to integrate branded resale into their business models — creating new revenue streams while advancing sustainability. Discover how her team is changing industry perceptions, scaling globally, and pioneering circular solutions in new verticals like home goods and electronics.

Whether you're a fashion exec, sustainability advocate, or retail tech enthusiast, this episode offers a masterclass in turning purpose into profit.

Show Notes:

🔹 Guest Background

• Emily’s education: BA in Mathematics (Cambridge), MBA & MS in Environmental Science (Stanford)

• Past experience: BCG, Google X, international development work on gender equity and mobile tech
  

🔹 Key Topics Covered

• Why fashion is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions

• The myth of resale cannibalizing full-price sales

• Archive’s unique tech platform for peer-to-peer resale, in-store trade-ins, and consignment

• Partnerships with brands like Lululemon, Doc Martens, and M.M.LaFleur

• The data-driven approach to pricing, SKU matching, and profit optimization in resale

• Scaling Archive internationally and expanding into new categories

• Raising $60M+ in funding and what’s next for the circular economy
  

🔹 Powerful Stats & Takeaways

• 100 billion clothing items are produced annually — enough to clothe the next 6 generations

• Resale customers have 2–3x higher lifetime value than new-only customers

• M.M.LaFleur saw a 3% revenue boost in year one from resale alone

• Resale is expected to become a $350B market
  

🎙️ Listen Now:
Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and your favorite streaming platforms.

Learn More About Archive:
https://www.archiveresale.com

Sponsored by Firework

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.