The ITV actuality present Love Island final month introduced a partnership with eBay, with this yr’s contestants showcasing secondhand clothes as a substitute of fast-fashion items. And simply final week, former sponsor Missguided was purchased out of administration by Frasers Group for £20m.
What does eBay’s transfer inform us in regards to the state of the retail business? And what’s going to the affect of the partnership be on shoppers, in addition to different excessive road and quick trend manufacturers?
ITV desires to encourage its demographic
Love Island has, till now, been synonymous with quick trend, having partnered with manufacturers like Missguided and I Noticed It First since its inception. Contestants usually proceed on this vein after they depart, occurring to entrance influencer campaigns for manufacturers like Boohoo and Nasty Gal, and within the case of Molly-Mae Hague, even being appointed because the UK and EU inventive director of Fairly Little Factor. Naturally, this development has drawn criticism, with the present being referred to as out for perpetuating a throwaway perspective in the direction of garments and contributing to the broader environmental and moral points associated to quick trend.
This yr, Love Island has determined it’s time for a change, and is partnering with second-hand market eBay as its sponsor. It introduced that contestants will put on secondhand or ‘pre-loved’ clothes as a substitute of latest items.
Commenting on the information, the present’s government producer, Mike Spencer mentioned: “As a present we attempt to be a extra eco-friendly manufacturing with extra give attention to methods through which we will visibly present this on display screen…. We purpose to encourage our demographic and present that there are unbelievable finds available and the way sharing is, in some small means, caring.”
We have now been grafting all winter… It’s time to carry the pre-love to Love Island ❤️
Residing the ‘eat, sleep, rewear repeat’ mentality, we are going to present a shared wardrobe for the villa ????#eBayxLoveIsland #PreLoved
— eBay UK (@eBay_UK) Might 19, 2022
Whereas Spencer means that ITV’s partnership with eBay goals to encourage viewers, it’s additionally a sign of the shifting attitudes of younger shoppers – and the behaviour that’s already going down.
Based on ThredUp’s 2022 Resale Report, secondhand trend displaced almost one billion new clothes purchases in 2021 that usually would have been purchased new. In the meantime, ThredUp discovered that almost two in three shoppers who store fast-fashion say they aspire to purchase extra secondhand clothes and attire as a substitute.
Dedication to the trigger will construct belief with shoppers
The pandemic has undoubtedly had a component to play within the altering priorities of shoppers, with youthful consumers specifically taking the time to re-consider their buying selections, and driving organisations to be extra purpose-driven.
Nigel Naylor-Smith, Head of Retail and Hospitality at Fujitsu UK, advised Econsultancy that this behaviour has since turned from consideration to motion.
“The shift in shopper mindset and behavior has been additional exacerbated by COP26, which confirmed that sustainable trend must be a precedence to show the tide on local weather change,” he says. “Undoubtedly, the Love Island partnerships staff may have been listening, monitoring, and understanding that millennials and Gen Zs are invested within the eco-movement, which means their priorities are vastly totally different from earlier generations.”
However, is it only a publicity stunt? Naylor-Smith suggests not, and that it’s maybe too high-profile for ITV to threat tarnishing its fame as an moral broadcaster.
“By Love Island endorsing ‘pre-loved gadgets’ it reveals not solely their dedication to the trigger, nevertheless it additionally permits them to construct belief with shoppers – a significant trait for the youthful technology who’re uncovered to huge quantities of knowledge on-line. And in the event that they’re seen to be greenwashing, they may actually be referred to as out and requested to supply laborious proof.”
Local weather change just isn’t the one motive the partnership may resonate with shoppers, after all, with the rising price of residing additionally pushing individuals to search for cheaper alternate options to the excessive road or throwaway quick trend. Certainly, ThredUp discovered that the primary motive Gen Z purchase used clothes is to save cash, adopted by the need to be extra sustainable, then to have extra enjoyable when purchasing.
Expertise is making it simpler to purchase and promote pre-loved clothes
So, it appears the resale market is rising, and whereas the likes of eBay have been round for years, new on-line marketplaces at the moment are driving this development, with know-how making it simpler for customers to purchase and promote attire than ever earlier than.
We’re actually seeing proof of this – Vinted posted a 63% year-on-year income rise for 2021. In the meantime, Depop’s big development was recognised when it was purchased by Etsy in 2021 for $1.6 billion.
As McKinsey’s Anita Balchandani explains within the ‘McKinseys on Startup’ podcast, new resale platforms are feeding in to new shopper priorities. “I believe more and more the chance to increase the lifetime of a garment, or an object, has some very highly effective potential, when it comes to what it could actually do to the carbon footprint of consumption, whereas nonetheless satisfying the intrinsic need that we, as shoppers, have for newness and self-expression,” she mentioned.
Certainly, new apps and marketplaces are designed to not solely fulfil the need to purchase secondhand, however in addition they provide a seamless (and addictive) expertise, providing customers an infinite aisle of inspiration and alternative to find new methods to precise themselves. Therefore, we’re additionally seeing trend manufacturers themselves embrace secondhand marketplaces, in a push for general business change. As McKinsey government editor Daniel Eisenberg explains, “Whereas a couple of years in the past many gamers appeared cautious of those new fashions, extra at the moment are actually beginning to participate in them. They’re putting partnerships with on-line resale marketplaces and getting their clients concerned, whereas ensuring that the model nonetheless stays a key a part of the equation.”
One instance of that is Goal, which not too long ago partnered with resale-as-a-service platform ThredUp, to check launch a secondhand clothes initiative. As a part of the deal, Goal will provide round 400,000 girls’s and kids’s gadgets from its owned manufacturers, in addition to extra curated from ThredUp’s personal assortment.
There are different indicators of main retail manufacturers embracing sustainability, too, with many investing in their very own resale or rental initiatives to encourage round trend (on prime of partnering with third-party marketplaces). French Connection has not too long ago develop into the primary UK model to arrange its personal rental service, frenchconnectionrental.com, enabling clients to lease clothes from its present collections relatively than purchase outright.
French Connection Rental – our brand-new rental service that provides you entry to your favorite types to your events. A part of our Acutely aware Connection journey, French Connection Rental helps to make optimistic adjustments to your wardrobe. Begin renting > https://t.co/2IvSJDsgB2 pic.twitter.com/amlszQPARe
— French Connection (@FCUK) June 7, 2022
Is sustainable purchasing going mainstream?
So, is secondhand actually going mainstream? eBay’s partnership with Love Island is certain to assist in the direction of making secondhand clothes extra of a mass development relatively than a distinct segment trigger.
Fujitsu UK’s Nigel Naylor-Smith says that it’s prone to have a huge impact, not essentially on shoppers, however on different manufacturers and broadcasters.
“…partnering with eBay has garnered the optimistic publicity they should preserve relevancy. Arguably, that is simply the beginning of the development between actuality TV and sustainable partnerships.”
ITV just isn’t turning its again on quick trend utterly, after all, with campaigns nonetheless showing in Love Island’s advert breaks. Contestants are nonetheless certain to be chosen by these manufacturers once they emerge from the villa, too.
Nonetheless, one modern facet of Love Island – demonstrated in newer sequence – is that it permits viewers to purchase what they see on the present in real-time. With the clothes being secondhand, viewers presumably gained’t be capable of purchase the precise gadgets this yr, however they may nonetheless be capable of purchase related types by way of the ’Store the Present’ tab on the app, in addition to get their arms on their very own ‘Pre-Love Island look’ by way of the ITV Love Island hub.
Maybe the proof of any actual or long-lasting shift in the direction of sustainable retail will likely be within the gross sales – although whether or not eBay sees the identical type of uptick that Missguided did in its heyday stays to be seen. Regardless, it’s a robust message, and any optimistic metrics for eBay will quickly inform us whether or not shoppers are actually shopping for in.
