On November 17, French resale e-commerce platform Vestiaire Collective announced the banning of 30 fast fashion brands from its platform, including Zara, H&M, Gap, Mango, and Uniqlo.
Vestiaire Collective has long been committed to circular fashion, encouraging consumers to prioritize “quality over quantity” and “invest in craftsmanship at better prices.” Last November, the company had already banned fast fashion brands including Shein, Topshop, and Asos from its storefront, and now it has added more to the list of banned brands.
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According to the company, since banning fast fashion listings for the first time last year, it has found that “70% of members impacted by the ban come back to the platform to shop for better quality items and invest in second-hand.”
To add further brands, the company worked with a committee of nine fashion and sustainability experts to create a clear definition of fast fashion in order to deepen its commitment to a more circular economy. Using this framework, the company moved to ban the industry’s leading fast fashion companies from its website.
The definition of constructed fast fashion is based on the following five criteria that are responsible for overproduction and overconsumption.
- Low price point: estimated average price point, also considering the repairability component
- Intense renewal rate: the estimated number of collections or number of new items drops per year
- Wide product range size: the number of items available at a given moment
- Speed to market: the production cycle time, from designing phase to finished goods in store
- Strong promotion intensity: the frequency and intensity of sale promotions
The company said, “Banning more fast fashion from Vestiaire Collective’s website will spark debate, however, with the climate crisis accelerating and ninety-two million tons of textile waste thrown away every year, it is a necessary step to reduce fashion’s environmental and social impact.” Also, Vestiaire Collective added that they will utilize the platform to bring awareness to issues of textile waste and fashion overconsumption, as well as encourage other key fashion players to join the mission to change the industry.
Dounia Wone, Chief Impact Officer of Vestiaire Collective, said, “Fast fashion brands contribute to excessive production and consumption, resulting in devastating social and environmental consequences in the Global South,” and he added, “It is our duty to act and lead the way for other industry players to join us in this movement, and together we can have an impact.”
Massive amounts of discarded clothing piling up in Times Square
To inform the public of this further step by the Vestiaire Collective, a bold appeal campaign was launched in Times Square in New York City. The company’s social media posts showed piles of discarded clothing piled up in the center of Times Square.
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It is part of a global campaign, “Think First, Buy Second,” that leverages AI technology and uses video and visuals of piles of discarded clothing piled up in famous tourist spots around the world to replicate the textile waste and landfills in consumers’ own countries.
Through this campaign, the company is asking social media users to pledge to turn “Black Friday” into “Better Friday. Participants can choose between pledging to only buy second-hand this Better Friday, until the end of the year, in 2024 or to stick to second-hand forever. In addition, this social media campaign on Instagram is offering a €400 voucher to the five winning participants by tagging five friends in the comments section of the above post and sharing the post in a story.
The Vestiaire Collective is taking various initiatives to engage this large audience and raise awareness of sustainable shopping. The company will continue to impart knowledge and convey the message of sustainable fashion to both buyers and sellers through all stages of the shopping and display experience.