Just in time for Earth Day, we learn about the launch of an iPhone app for an innovative online consignment boutique that lets parents recycle their children’s outgrown, yet gently-used clothes and turn them into cash for their kids’ school.
The team behind the service called Schoola does all the work: collect, sort through, clean and put the gently used donated clothes up for sale on its website, then give the proceeds from the sales back to schools where the clothes were donated to.
Brilliant!
The concept is brainchild of Boston mom, Stacey Boyd, a former teacher and school principal of a charter school who used a children’s clothing sale to raise money for the inner city charter school she built from the ground up in 1997. Boyd used the revenue from the sale to support the addition of arts, physical education and foreign language programs for the school. The effort helped improve the math scores of the students at the school which became among the highest performing middle schools in Boston within a year of its founding.
Since then, the website, which launched in 2012, has grown to support 3,000 schools. The newly-launched app makes everything mobile.
On the site right now, a $25.99 retail GAP dress is on sale for $7.90. A pair of $25 retail Carters plaid shorts for boys is also selling for about 7 bucks.
It’s a win-win.
Parents get great designer quality clothing for less and their children’s schools can buy new paintbrushes and paints for art classes, purchase new instruments for the school band, and get new books for libraries.
Sweet Deal! Check out Schoola and download the new App for FREE at the Apple iOS store!