Eco World President Jené D’Ambrosio in the company’s 20,000 square foot facility in Fresno. Eco World is a zero-waste, reuse and re-wear clothing company that works with affiliates such as schools and churches to keep clothing out of landfills. Photo by Frank Lopez

Much like in their industry, married couple Jené and Daren D’Ambrosio have taken what they have and made something new.

Jené and Daren are the owners of Eco World, a zero-waste, reuse and re-wear clothing recycling company in Fresno.

Out of its main facility downtown, Eco World diverts used clothing, shoes and other textiles from landfills, collecting them via donation bins and pick-up services.

The Fresno location serves much of Central California, and the company also operates in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Nevada.

Hitting 10 years in business and flourishing during the pandemic, Eco World has enjoyed steady 30% growth each of the past five years. 

Both Central Valley natives, the D’Ambrosios want to keep their family business right where it is. 

“Keeping things local and helping out local communities is what we wanted to instill in this company, to separate from other people in this industry,” Jené said. “Textile recycling is a very foreign industry and people don’t realize that it even exists half the time.”

“That’s where we try to get that knowledge out to the community,” she added. 

Building awareness

The larger business world is beginning to take notice of the crucial niche companies such as Eco World fill. The Kiplinger Letter — a paid forecasting newsletter for executives and investors — last month said new federal research is exploring better ways to recycle clothing. Currently only 15% of discarded textiles are recycled or reused. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is leading an initiative to change that.

Cheaper clothing, synthetic material and modern fashion trends of short-lived styles are blamed for the increased waste, which cost the U.S. $5 billion to manage in 2020, according to Kiplinger.

Eco World is on the ground floor of that effort, working with 198 affiliates to collect clothing donations, including schools, churches, nonprofit organizations and charities.

Donation bins will be stationed at affiliate sites, from where it will be picked up and the affiliate partner paid for the product. The best clothing is kept and sold by the affiliates. Clothing that is torn, stained and unusable will be turned into carpet pad underlay and insulation — the main source of Eco World’s revenue. 

Unlike metal or electronic recycling, Darren said there isn’t as much as demand for textile recycling because of its limited uses. 

Around 15 years ago, Daren said the market for clothing recycling was very small — mostly Goodwill and Salvation Army diverting leftover products overseas, which eventually became known as “dumping,” Darren said.

For years, Africa would allow second-hand clothing into the country, but that was eventually curtailed. Mexico does not allow any products. 

 

“Cans and plastic can be made into almost anything,” Daren said. “It’s cheaper to dump it [clothing] in a landfill than to recycle it.” 

Jené said the clothing recycling industry is much more established on the East Coast. It’s surprising to her that a state like California hasn’t taken more initiative. 

The pair says a marketing campaign is needed to educate and convince consumers not to throw their clothing in the trash.

New beginnings

The D’Ambrosios path into clothing recycling was unlikely. In 2010, the end of one cycle kicked off another.

At the time, Darren had a large concession business, Duggan’s Concessions, that wasn’t incorporated. When one of his vendors fell behind, it led to litigation that eventually caused the D’Ambrosios to lose their business and even their house.

They were left with just one kettle corn stand they would take to swap meets and farmer’s markets. Jené was bartending and waitressing to make money to keep the stand running.

In 2012, a friend from Africa in the textile industry asked them to collect clothing and shoes from the local swap meets and farmer’s markets to send him.

After building a container for the clothing and sorting out of their garage, they decided to see if they could make a business of it.

“It was slow rolling in the beginning because we didn’t have a bank for a loan; we didn’t have grants or any of that. There were times when we thought about shutting down or getting jobs somewhere, but we just never stopped,” Jené said. 

They would collect clothing, rent a U-Haul truck, drive to the ports, fill a shipping container and send it off. 

To keep the businesses viable, Daren knew that they would have to do a lot of volume. 

In 2015, they found a woman who was selling clothing donation bins like you would see in store parking lots. She worked with the D’Ambrosios on payments. 

The next step was driving around the Valley asking to put bins on properties. Many owners were apprehensive to take them, afraid of graffiti, trash and vandalism.

 

Jené would assure them that they were going to be a different kind of company — one that would pick-up donations once a week or sooner if needed. The bins would be kept clean and properly maintained. 

Their first shop for sorting and storage was 1,500 square feet. Three years ago, they moved into their fourth and current location, which covers 20,000 square feet.

In the beginning, it would take the company six months to fill a shipping container. Today, Eco World processes 1.5 million pounds of clothing and textiles per month. 

Looking to the future

In 2020, Eco World established Just Porch It, a free pick-up service where people can schedule a no-contact pickup of their unwanted clothing, shoes and other textile items. 

Just Porch It was launched right before the start of the pandemic, and the business allowed them to keep donations flowing, maintaining revenue streams for both their company and affiliates. 

Along with their bins in different states, Eco World has a warehouse in Portland that serves Oregon and Washington, as well as a warehouse in Reno and Idaho. 

There are plans to add another warehouse in the back of the South Fresno property, and work recently started on a satellite facility in Stockton to expand business coverage further north. 

It’s the company’s first foray into a satellite facility, but if it works, Jené said they will open more and just keep growing. 

“Slowing down is not an option,” she said.