Isabel Marant is Pioneering Circular Fashion With New Second-Hand Platform
The French luxury label has revealed plans to launch a vintage resale website, offering to restore pre-loved items so that – instead of gathering dust in the back of a wardrobe or, even worse, hitting landfill – they can be loved once more.
By regenerating the post-sale, post-season lifespan of their garments, Isabel Marant is making a radical step towards sustainability. Alongside year-round collections, the platform will offer consumers the opportunity to save some money, save the environment, and discover unique vintage pieces.
HOW IT WORKS
The platform offers customers the opportunity to donate pre-loved Isabel Marant items in return for brand credit. Items will be assessed for their value, repaired where necessary, and re-sold on the platform. Additionally, the platform will host ‘out-of-season’ or ‘dead stock’ garments and accessories.
This circular model works against the long-standing established grain of the fashion industry, threatening to disrupt the rigid seasonality of trends and garments.
“The secondhand market is booming, and brands are piling in… With resale far outpacing the growth of the overall fashion sector, brands must consider their options” Cathleen Chen, quoted by ThredUp
Luxe Digital revealed that the luxury secondhand market is growing four times faster than the primary luxury market. And according to ThredUp, 43% of consumers would prefer to shop with a brand that allows them to trade in old clothes for brand credit.
For luxury fashion labels like Marant then, investing in the second-hand potential of their garments is vitally important to both profit and for drawing in consumers who are increasingly conscious of their clothing footprint. In addition to this, Marant proposed that her new vintage platform will donate a portion of proceeds to supporting indigenous women’s education and craft through the Isabel Marant Endowment Fund.
Such a step is monumental for the luxury sector: by creating conversation around, and by setting an example of how re-sale and circularity can work, Marant are pioneering a progressive shift that favours timeless design and longevity over disposability and trend led fashion. It seems like Marant might be contributing to setting the foundations for a radically re-imagined luxury fashion sector… we recommend that you keep your eyes peeled for more circular fashion initiatives, in the not-so-distant future.
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+ Words: Niamh Heron, Luxiders Magazine
BA Journalism and Media Graduate, based in Leeds, UK
Connect with her through Instagram @niamh.heron or Linkedin
