Nordstrom Partners With Give Back Box

Nordstrom has partnered with Give Back Box, according to news from Chain Store Age. The service will allow consumers to donate items to charity by mailing a Nordstrom box.

The initiative offers customers an environmentally friendly way to dispose of clothes, reported Racked. Give Back Box provides pre-paid shipping labels that consumers can use to donate their unwanted merchandise to charities like Goodwill.

“Our customers have told us they want to be able to clean out their closets in a more environmentally friendly way,” said Erik Nordstrom, co-president of Nordstrom. “By extending the life of their used items and encouraging them to reuse the box from their recent Nordstrom order, we’re trying to make it easy and convenient to help reduce waste, while also being able to support local nonprofit organizations.”

Nordstrom is also implementing an in-store donation system at its six Washington state locations. Participating retail stores will have white Goodwill bins available for customers to deposit their donations instead of having to ship them.

The retailer is unsure how long the initiative will continue, Racked reported. The company also hasn’t decided whether to expand in-store donation services outside Washington state.

“We’re really looking to our customers to guide us here,” wrote Erik Nordstrom in an email. “We want to see how they respond and whether they think this is a service we should continue offering.”

Nordstrom has indicated that the partnership with Give Back Box is a response to customer feedback, according to Racked. The customer feedback indicated that consumers wanted to clean their closets in a way that was environmentally responsible, which is also the reason that Nordstrom has been engaging with sustainable clothing brands.

Nordstrom tried a similar program in 2014, reported Racked, when the retailer partnered with Fashion Project, a market for secondhand clothing that donated a portion of its proceeds to charity.