SAN ANTONIO – Two San Antonio moms are on a mission to reduce waste by selling gently used clothing.
“It is a curated bag of secondhand kids clothes. So, think a wardrobe mix amount, three bottoms, three tops and one bonus item, like a dress or something,” Kara Livingston said.
Livingston and Nicole Boynton operate their business, Hand Me Up, out of Livingston’s garage on the Northwest Side. The company offers clothing sizes from newborn up to age six.
“For the family that wants to choose secondhand, we want to make this as easy as like click and shop on Amazon. One of my personal passions is to reduce textile waste, which is just the overconsumption of textiles in the United States and the world in general. So, if we can keep clothes in circulation by shopping secondhand, that’s one way that we can do that,” Boynton said.
The women have been friends since they were 14 years old and the idea came while they co-hosted a podcast about motherhood.
“One thing we heard a lot about was struggling to manage closets. Kids having like excess of clothes, not having what you need when you need it,” Livingston said.
They started the business about two years ago and have sold over 3,500 items and are not slowing down.
They recently participated in the 2023 Community Fund competition hosted by Geekdom, a collaborative working space downtown. This year, Hand Me Up won and took home $25,000.
“We’re really excited about it because it’s going to be able to provide some growth for our business,” Livingston said.
The women are excited for this next chapter and have a message for anyone wanting to start their own business.
“Just do it. Just have you if you have something you want to do, get started. Like just get it out into the world,” Livingston said.