SwagCycle is making a difference – and the do-gooding just expanded exponentially.

From coordinating donations of clothing and other essentials for Afghani refugees in Houston to recycling off-brand T-shirts for Amazon, the promotional products industry start-up is on a mission of charity and sustainability that’s having a real-world positive impact.

SwagCycle responsibly manages the lifecycle of branded merchandise to help recycle or repurpose unwanted promo products. 

Ben Grossman, SwagCycle

Since its launch in late 2019, SwagCycle’s work has kept 776,380 products out of landfills and facilitated $2,124,189 in charitable donations of merch. Especially notable is the fact that the organization’s impact skyrocketed in 2021, with more than 1,000% year-over-year increases in items diverted from landfills and donations coordinated.

“When we launched a couple years ago, we didn’t know how the market would react,” said Ben Grossman, founder of SwagCycle, which is an outgrowth of Somerville, MA-based promo distributor Grossman Marketing Group (GMG; asi/215205), where Ben Grossman is co-president.

Grossman continued: “I suspected there would be demand for a frictionless platform enabling organizations to donate or recycle/upcycle their swag rendered obsolete by rebrands and acquisitions. Some of the nation’s leading companies agree, and organizations of all sizes have reached out to us to assist in their environmental and/or philanthropic efforts.”

Those include Amazon’s AWS Team, which contacted SwagCycle for help in recycling off-brand T-shirts. SwagCycle “was extremely helpful and patient throughout the entire process,” said AWS’s Elizabeth Sanchez.

In a report on 2021 activities, Grossman noted that perhaps the most rewarding project SwagCycle worked on involved helping the Houston YMCA resettle families from Afghanistan with urgently needed clothing and other items, such as water bottles, bags and drinkware.

“The amazing team at the YMCA reached out to SwagCycle in August to see if we could leverage our network to deliver high-quality products and, recognizing the gravity and time-sensitive nature of the situation, we immediately reached out to our robust database,” Grossman said.

Merchandise gift bags donated by SwagCycle to YMCA Houston. (Photo courtesy of YMCA International Services in Houston)

Within a month, more than 10 companies and organizations responded and worked with SwagCycle to donate tens of thousands of much-needed items.

“The response has been truly incredible,” said Sharon Friedman of YMCA International Services (Houston). Many “in-kind donations from companies and organizations around the United States have come in, and the quality of these products has been fantastic. I can’t thank the team at SwagCycle enough.”

In another initiative, SwagCycle partnered with supplier Royal Apparel (asi/83731) on two large donations of masks. The first saw 100,000 masks donated to the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless and Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, NY.

In a separate undertaking, SwagCycle coordinated the donation of Moleskine notebooks from a large technology company to the Boston-based arm of Dress for Success, a poverty-fighting agency whose mission includes providing women with professional attire to help them secure quality employment.

While a significant amount of SwagCycle’s projects have been philanthropic, the organization has increasingly assisted companies with the recycling and upcycling of their branded merch, usually apparel.

“In early 2021, we worked with a large home healthcare organization in Nebraska to responsibly recycle old garments from their field staff after a corporate rebrand,” Grossman said. “Their cotton shirts became painters’ rags, and their polyester/blended apparel was shredded and recycled back into yarn. The primary reason they requested that their goods be recycled rather than donated is that, for the safety and security of their patients, they wanted the obsolete merchandise fully removed from the marketplace.”

For 2022, SwagCycle’s goals include continuing to build out its recycling capabilities and to expand its charitable footprint in the U.S. and abroad. The organization also wants to forge more partnerships with other promo distributors who work closely with end-user companies.

“During these tumultuous times, it has been incredibly rewarding to be able to leverage our infrastructure and industry expertise to make a positive social and environmental impact,” said Grossman. “We’re excited at what the future holds for SwagCycle.”

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