The Last Word: Thrift for Good Co‑Founder on Leveraging AI to Transform Thrift Stores

“We see ourselves as a tech company.”

Jen Cooper
Co-Founder and Co-Owner
Thrift for Good
.…on building AI-powered software that can transform how thrift stores work, via D CEO.

Founded in 2019, Thrift for Good enables people to buy and donate used goods while helping out charities, in an industry where 84% of donated clothes end up either dumped in a landfill or destroyed. Cooper and her fellow co-founder and co-owner, Taylor Watts, are building AI-based software for thrift stores to try to reduce that waste and inefficiency—while working to grow their DFW footprint.

“I think most people would be really astonished at how conventional thrift works, that there’s almost no technology supporting it or behind it,” Cooper told D CEO’s Audrey Henvey. “We see ourselves as a tech company, and we’ve been working on our technology from the very beginning. We’re really finally starting to get to the point where we can intersect the technology we’ve created with our actual processes in the store.” 

The co-founders operate two Thrift for Good stores in Hurst and Denton, and have another one planned for Cleburne in 2025, with 25% of proceeds from each sale going to the donor’s designated charity.

For more on how they aim to transform the thrift industry, read the D CEO story here.

For more of who said what about all things North Texas, check out Every Last Word.

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