Secondhand clothing has come out of the closet, with the sector on-track to account for 10% of the global fashion market in 2024.
The negative associations around buying used garments are gone, as sustainability, cost concerns and the boom in online shopping make embracing ‘pre-loved’ clothing something to shout about.
Global pre-owned clothing sales reached $211 billion in 2023, a 19% increase on the previous year, with a report by GlobalData for secondhand clothing resale site ThredUp predicting the market could reach $350bn by 2027. Worldwide secondhand sales are expected to increase three-times faster on average than the overall apparel market by 2027, the report predicts.
Bad news for fast fashion? Maybe, but better news for the planet.
Estimates of the fashion industry’s greenhouse gas footprint range from, at the higher end, a 2019 World Bank analysis of 10% of global emissions, to 1.8% according to a 2023 report by the Apparel Impact Institute.
Here are four innovations from World Economic Forum UpLink innovators, which aim to promote the circular economy and help make the fast-fashion industry more sustainable.
A US-based start-up called Natural Fiber Welding turns plant-based materials into sustainable 'leather' and textiles.
The firm’s products meld plant matter into fibres that behave like synthetics, including a plant-based leather called MIRUM that contains no PVC or synthetic binding agents.
MIRUM is created using a natural process that doesn’t use harmful chemicals, unlike natural leather, and is not a pollutant, unlike ‘pleather’ or plastic leather, so it biodegrades back into natural ingredients.