LONDON, 18 June 2020: Farfetch Limited (NYSE: FTCH), the leading global platform for the luxury fashion industry, today publishes an initial report looking into the environmental benefits of buying pre-owned fashion, and additionally, launches a fashion footprint tool to help consumers easily see how they can help the planet with their wardrobes.
The research*, commissioned by Farfetch in partnership with QSA, ICARO and London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB), focused on two areas:
- Displacement rates: Does the purchase of a pre-owned fashion item replace the purchase of a new item, therefore reducing the demand for additional items that require new resources?
- Environmental impacts: What are the average environmental impacts (carbon, water, waste) for fashion items, which can be applied with the displacement rate above to give an indication of the environmental savings when someone purchases a pre-owned item?
“Existing data shows that luxury resale represents a $24 billion market[1] that is growing four times faster than the primary luxury market, partly due to consumer interest in sustainable fashion, but data on resale’s environmental impact is limited,” said Thomas Berry, Director of Sustainable Business, Farfetch. “Farfetch has been selling a curated selection of pre-owned and vintage fashion online since 2010, and in 2019 launched two services offering customers the ability to sell or donate their pre-owned items. We wanted to better understand the environmental benefits of all these models as we continue to focus on projects to enable us and our partners to reduce environmental impacts.”
Giorgio Belloli, Chief Commercial & Sustainability Officer, Farfetch added: “With this research, we want to support our partners and more broadly the luxury industry, in helping to drive positive change. In addition to the core-business initiatives we are launching within the sustainability space, we aim to become a source for data and tools in the circular space to drive this positive change. This marks the first step into that direction.”
To help engage consumers with the information from the research, Farfetch created a fashion footprint tool (note: include link to tool here) for consumers to understand how their pre-owned and conscious fashion choices can impact the planet. Launched on the Farfetch.com website, the tool will allow consumers, when choosing to make a purchase, to consider which materials can reduce the environmental impact of their purchase, and to see the environmental savings of incorporating pre-owned purchases into their wardrobes.
Part of the company’s ‘Positively Farfetch’ sustainability initiative launched last year and this latest commitment further exemplifies Farfetch’s mission to be the global platform for good in luxury fashion – empowering everyone they work with to think, act and choose positively.
You can access the full report here.
Farfetch is making the data accessible to anyone interested in running their own findings against displacement rates, or inserting their own environmental impact figures into the calculations. The aim of this tool is give people a good indication on environmental impacts and we realise that this will change based on specific products and scenarios.
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[1] Existing data from Luxe Digital can be found here
*Note: Statistics used in the report are based on a survey of 3,000 ‘Pre-owned buyers’ (people who have purchased at least one pre-owned item in the last year) in the UK, US and China.
Find more information on Farfetch’s resale initiative Second Life, here and donation service Thrift+ here.