ThredUp Hires New CMO, Awakens After Marketing Hiatus
After years without one, ThredUp announced Noelle Sadler has joined the company as its chief marketing officer.
Most recently serving as CMO for e-tailer Lulus, Sadler also counts marketing executive experience at MAC Cosmetics and Retold Recycling, a subscription-based clothing clean-out service that she cofounded. A New York University fine arts alum, Sadler obtained additional schooling in business administration and sustainable business strategy.
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“ThredUp is undeniably changing the way the world shops, and I’m eager to further the company’s mission,” Sadler said in a statement. “My expertise is deeply rooted in consumer marketing and merchandising, while my passion closely aligns with sustainability and reducing fashion waste.”
Sadler will apply her expertise in e-commerce marketing and merchandising to the secondhand market. She is the company’s first dedicated CMO in nearly five years and will report to ThredUp’s president Anthony Marino, who previously oversaw marketing.
The U.S. secondhand market was valued at $35 billion in 2021 and is expected to more than double by 2026, reaching $82 billion, according to the ThredUp’s 2022 Resale Report. With the secondhand market still in expansion mode — and start-ups popping up, seemingly, every day — the new hire will be advantageous in helping ThredUp cut through the noise.
“We’re thrilled to have Noelle on board and look forward to leveraging her expertise in marketing and merchandising to continue creating a seamless experience for shoppers that urges them to choose used, and ultimately inches the industry closer to a more sustainable future for fashion,” Anthony Marino, president of ThredUp, told WWD.
Asked what marketing channels will be key in ThredUp’s future, Marino said: “Our philosophy has always been to diversify our spend across multiple online and offline channels. We’re also active experimenters of new and emerging channels, and we love to see entrants to the ad landscape — like Netflix — shaking things up. Still, our best advertisers are our customers who tell all their friends to shop ThredUp.”
This spring, ThredUp took a page from Patagonia’s daring marketing playbook, recently staging a fast-fashion boycott against Shein as well as hosting a climate-positive concert during Coachella. The company also collaborated with celebrity stylist Karla Welch during festival season and wedding season to nudge customers toward more sustainable habits.
Marketing aside, logistics are big business.
When it comes to how ThredUp is smoothing out friction in behind-the-scenes processing times, Marino said the buildout of the 600,000-square-foot distribution center outside of Dallas is making steady progress and is on track to begin processing this year.
“Upon full completion, the new four-level facility will bring ThredUp’s total network-wide capacity to 16.5 million items — a 150 percent increase from our current capacity. We are confident that with these investments, we’ll unlock ever-higher steady-state processing over time — a critical input to future, steady growth,” Marino said.
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