Inside Retail’s Top 50 People in E-Commerce is an annual ranking of the most inspiring leaders in Australia’s online retail industry. As we gear up for the launch of the 2022 report, we are revisiting some of the people featured in previous reports for a new series called Top 50 Talks. Here, they discuss their origin stories and passion projects. For many of us, textile waste is a hidden problem. We donate clothes that we are tired of wearing and throw away items that are ripped or
n problem. We donate clothes that we are tired of wearing and throw away items that are ripped or stained without really thinking about what happens next. But when Michael Elias realised that the socks he was selling through his subscription menswear brand, Manrags, were ending up in landfill, he decided to do something about it.
Over the last year-and-a-half, Elias has transformed Manrags into an innovative textile recycling start-up. Now called Upparel, the business’ primary purpose is keeping old and unwanted clothes out of landfill. For this episode of Top 50 Talks, we sat down with Elias to find out how it works, why he’s optimistic about textile waste, and what’s next for Upparel.
