A former City Hall staffer’s toy company is rewriting the rules of e-commerce in a Frankford warehouse
The company’s cofounder, Nic Esposito, said he wants to change the play habits of Philadelphia’s kids, then fully rewrite the rules of e-commerce. Esposito sees toys as a perfect use case: Kids grow out of toys at supersonic speed, but not before packing them with sentimental value that could give parents pause before sending them to a landfill. Yet the solution isn’t to start filling boxes with unused toys in a space-limited Philadelphia rowhouse.
The Unless Kids model is similar to other prominent consumer brands without being exactly the same. Like Blockbuster or Rent the Runway, users return goods once they’re through with them — but products aren’t rentals. Like eBay, customers are likely to receive a toy that has had prior owners, but Unless Kids is handling sale, delivery, and return. Like a library, community is central to the ethos.
That’s not for lack of want among parents. According to consumer polling in August by Circana, about half of 1,557 respondents said eco-friendly toys with less packaging were an important factor to their purchasing habits. The same survey found that 63% of respondents had donated their children’s toys and 45% bought one secondhand.