Resale: A New Old Fashioned Trend

High fashion designers are now on board a secondhand trend, creating a movement to encourage their customers to buy garments from previous seasons to emit less carbon globally.

“[Resale] is a fundamental shift in the industry,” says Emily Gittins, founder and CEO of Archive, a startup that powers resale operations. “But ultimately, there’s a limited capacity on how much people can buy. If we make it easier for people to buy and sell used goods, they will eventually stop buying as many new products, and this will prompt brands to manufacture less.”

The fashion industry accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions thanks to the 100 billion clothes they produce every year. Now, it is looking to curb overproduction and overconsumption with the launch of Secondhand September, a movement that encourages people to buy used garments instead of new ones. Some customers don’t have the budget to buy new high-fashion clothes, others buy secondhand by principle, and both can now enjoy classic and timeless pieces in resale. The large online thrift store thredUP, for example, partnered up with big brands such as Madewell, Banana Republic, and Reformation to sell their used clothes. This newly-adopted trend forces designers to change their business models, such as the launch of hashtags – Ulla Johnson uses #FutureHeirlooms to focus on the timelessness of the garments designed to last decades – or the use of features on their website – Diane Von Furstenberg has a “Missed Connections” feature where customers can post messages about dresses they are looking for. Though it’ll take time, resale has the power to reduce the overall volume of garments manufactured on a global scale.