Why the smart fashionistas have stopped buying new clothes
The resale market for designer clothing has never been stronger as women embrace personal style over trends
5 min
From the latest issue of Kanebridge Quarterly. Order your copy here.
Are you in the market for a classic Chanel 2.55 bag? Or perhaps you’re dreaming about that Zimmermann dress you should have snapped up in store a couple of months ago? Chances are you’re spending as much time scouring the resale market as you are a brand-new version as the lines between new and shop fresh stock blur. The rise in designer and luxury resale globally shows no sign of slowing down. Rather, it is one of the biggest growth areas in the fashion industry today.
According to US-based secondhand fashion platform ThredUp’s 2024 Resale Report, the global secondhand apparel market is set to reach US$350 billion by 2028 — which sees it growing three times faster than the overall apparel market. Further to this, it anticipates that next year, 10 percent of the global apparel market will be made up of secondhand goods.
“There are three key triggers,” says Lauren Kennedy of Australian designer and luxury resale platform, High End. “One of them is sustainability. People are more conscious now of how they’re consuming.”
Of the other factors, cost of living is one —especially with the increasing prices of luxury goods in particular — and the other is the push from younger generations, particularly Gen Z and also Millennials, who feel no stigma around buying secondhand and prefer an individual approach to style.
“Everyone now wants their unique style, and resale offers unique pieces,” says Kennedy. “I would love to go into someone’s wardrobe from 50 years ago and look at all their stuff, because it was made with quality. They really like discovering and finding those unique pieces that you can only get resale, not retail.”
High End was founded as a peer-to-peer Facebook group 10 years ago by Brooke Marks, and six months ago it transitioned to an app and website. Of the Australian brands most in demand, she says it’s Camilla and Marc, Scanlan Theodore, Alemais and Zimmermann.
“And in terms of international designers, the most popular brands on our platform, which do hold their value, are Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Celine, Chanel, Prada,” she says.
Miranda Gillespie founded the luxury resale platform Luxe-It-Fwd in Brisbane in 2016, focusing purely on handbags and accessories. For her site, Louis Vuitton handbags are “the absolute standout” for customers.
“There’s a Louis Vuitton bag that can appeal to everyone,” says Gillespie. “Also, from a pricing point of view, you can have entry-level Louis Vuittons, which might be $1,500, which is quite cheap for a (luxury) handbag. Whereas you can’t enter Chanel at that price point.
“Certainly there is a sustainability element to it, and wanting to make more sustainable fashion shopping choices,” she adds. “But underlying it all, I think it really does come back to economics and being financially more savvy. If someone, for example, can purchase a handbag which might have little to no signs of use and pay $1,000 or $2,000 less than in the store, then that becomes a very attractive economic proposition for them.”
Individual brands have been slower to embrace the resale economy, but as the segment continues to gain traction, some have finally started to enter the fray. While premium and luxury brands are often concerned about devaluing and cannibalising their new products, some have started to dip their toes in the resale waters. It can be a way to show their support for the circular economy, build customer loyalty, and also reap a small, additional, portion of their products’ value.
French It-girl favourite label Isabel Marant has taken matters into its own hands, offering resale items alongside current season in some stores, while also operating a dedicated resale website. Gucci and Alexander McQueen recently partnered with Vestiaire Collective (their parent company, Kering, has a 5 percent stake in the resale platform), while their stablemate, Balenciaga has partnered with Reflaunt.
In Australia, Airrobe is one platform that has fostered direct relationships with brands including Oroton, Ginger & Smart and P.E Nation. Very few brands have launched their own resale platform, but Kit Willow is one that has taken the lead. Willow founded the sustainably focused brand KitX in 2015, and although she is winding up its new collections, the brand’s resale platform, KitXchange, will continue to operate.
“When the concept of KitX started to be born, I always had that vision (to include resale) because people could then circulate what already exists,” says Willow. “The premise is the value of material and design, to reinvigorate it and recirculate it. And that was actually before (we knew) the statistics on how much we were throwing away, which has now been pushed to the forefront, but is also a massive problem on a daily basis.”
Those statistics are truly alarming. In Australia alone, 200,000 tonnes of clothing go into landfill each year. These are among the statistics that Seamless — the name for the National Clothing Stewardship Scheme, a consortium of stakeholders led by the Australian Fashion Council and endorsed by the federal government which commenced in July — is aiming to address, with an aim of circularity in fashion by 2030.
Resale will play its part in this vision for a circular economy. (It is worth noting that Seamless will also ask for a levy of 4 cents for each new item of clothing sold in Australia, which will go towards funding for circularity initiatives; Seamless is currently an opt-in for brands. France, on the other hand, has put in place legislation to try and stem the influx of fast fashion, imposing a €5 surcharge on each item from next year.)
While the resale segment is on a growth trajectory, many are keen to see what its future looks like for business and customers alike.
“It is a new industry and there’s a lot of innovation and a lot of movement,” says Kennedy. “So it will be interesting to see what type of businesses come out on top and profitable, because one of the biggest challenges as a business in the industry is profitability at scale. It costs a lot to run these type of marketplace businesses and marketplaces only really work at scale.”
She believes that even platforms like High End will start to be populated by high-volume sellers who operate as businesses themselves.
Willow believes that one of the reasons the segment will continue to grow is that with the acceleration of climate change and its impact on the environment, natural fibres such as wool, cotton and silk will themselves become more expensive, pushing up prices of virgin garments and thus pushing more consumers into the resale market.
“It makes it even more important for designers to design more timeless pieces and create better quality,” she says, “so that their pieces can be reworn and resold for years to come.”
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In a post pandemic environment, Australian workers are voting with their feet and skipping the office in favour of other, more appealing environments
4 min
From the latest issue of Kanebridge Quarterly magazine. Order your copy here.
For many, working from home is the new normal. The transition from being based in the office to working off-site has been a fundamental one, and almost four in 10 Australians worked from home at least once a week throughout 2023.
While figures show a slight decrease on 2021, working from home (WFH, it even has its own acronym) has continued to escalate in white-collar occupations, with 60 percent of managers and professionals eschewing the traditional office set-up. And those who aren’t already doing it wish they were. According to the annual Taking the Pulse of the Nation report, almost all workers (94pc) would like to do at least part of their work hours at home.
“I would say that the days of only full-time in the office for all employees are likely gone for good,” says the author of the report, the Melbourne Institute’s Professor Ragan Petrie.
“The trends in Australia mimic those in other countries where hybrid schedules are quite common.”
But is it all good news? Among the many compelling reasons to ditch the commute — saving time, improved mental health, higher productivity and being able to put the washing on — there are the well-documented shortcomings regarding the isolation, and missing out on the opportunities that those casual catch ups in the stairwell can offer.
“Constant drop-bys for chit-chat are not productive, but purposeful conversations are,” counters Petrie. “There might not be shortcomings of working from home per se, but rather not having the right infrastructure and support in place for workers to be productive. It’s important for employers and workers to figure this out.”
For those who are new to the workforce, flexible working arrangements are just the way things are. According to one survey, two out of every three Generation Z workers believe that the option to work from home is a non-negotiable.
Underpinning the normality of remote work are the advancements in automation and technology that make the transition smoother than ever — and perhaps support the use of email and text over the meetings and phone calls that younger generations shy away from.
“People of different ages have differential experience with technology, and there are some ways of communication people may feel more comfortable with than others,” says Petrie. “Certainly, technology plays a large role. Those whose jobs allow them to tap into technology to perform their tasks are well poised to be successful with a hybrid schedule.
“In the end, if worker output is satisfactory, why is it important where it is done?”
At the start of the pandemic as office-goers scrambled for a space to call work, the kitchen table was the go-to location. Now working remotely has become a more permanent arrangement, a purpose-designed study area or hybrid space is as desirable in real estate brochures as a media room or butler’s pantry.
Roger Wardy is a director at Ray White Touma Group in inner city Sydney, where more than 100,000 office employees have left the CBD for the greener pastures of remote work arrangements.
“Most house hunters want to see a home office or office space these days, and in larger homes it’s an expectation,” he says.
“As such, we’d be more likely to market a six-bed home as a five-bed plus office. If a buyer works from home, that will definitely add value.”
But the home office is just the beginning. Having paved the way for more flexible work arrangements, there’s now a growing trend towards co-working environments for companionship, productivity and a delineation of work and home.
High-tech co-working spaces offer several advantages over working from home, making them the preferred choice for many. A professional environment means distractions are minimised, and you’ll have access to state-of-the-art amenities that you probably won’t have at home. And then there are those networking opportunities — co-working spaces attract a diverse group of professionals and who knows what you might find out at the communal coffee bar? It’s something that’s making its way up the agenda for apartment developers, too, with those on the front foot offering co-working spaces along with the pool, gym and rooftop entertaining.
At the luxury new development Paradiso Place in Surfers Paradise (pictured above), the entire 2900sqm 26th floor is dedicated to a state-of-the-art co-working space, maximising 360-degree views of the Gold Coast from the ocean to the hinterland.
“To have the option of working in a space like this with all the facilities of a high-tech office within your own apartment building is an exciting prospect for buyers,” says Total Property Group Managing Director Adrian Parsons. “We have been receiving a great deal of interest in this development from business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals who can see themselves waking up in their luxury apartment with ocean views to go for a walk or run along the beach, use the onsite gym, then conveniently head to work in a state-of-the-art co-working space within their own building.”
The space incorporates a boardroom, private meeting rooms, work pods and multiple hot desks. And it’s not all about focused work; there’s also a spacious balcony event space and a Coffee Emporium complete with baristas.
“With working from home becoming the new normal, we are seeing many Australians choosing to move to quality lifestyle locations like the Gold Coast, and a full-floor co-working space of this standard is attracting a high level of inquiry,” says Parsons.
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
