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Image courtesy of The RealReal via MusingsOne garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second; more than half of fast fashion is tossed away within a year; one polyester dress takes up to 200 years to break down. These are just some of the facts The RealReal wants its clientele to know about.
And why is a luxury consignment clothing company broadcasting environmental hardship? Because in their vision of the future of fashion, beautiful pieces of clothing—the production of which is responsible for 10% of the world’s total carbon footprint—should not pile up in landfills. Instead, they stay in glorious circulation, allowing the planet to rest and heal.
Under the inspired and compassionate watch of Allison Sommer, Director of Strategic Initiatives, The RealReal has become a member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the UN Climate Change Charter, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, and has signed onto Gucci’s Challenge to become carbon neutral by 2021 as well as the Million Tree Challenge which is focused on global reforestation. They even developed a Sustainability Calculator for member’s to see how many liters of water and kilograms of carbon have been saved by their consignments. Sommer says, “About half of our consignors cite environmental impact or extending the life cycle of luxury items as key motivators for consigning, and roughly one-third of our customers say they shop TRR as a replacement for fast fashion,” and that demand on TRR for sustainable brands has increased 3.6x over the past two years.
We’ve seen sustainability become increasingly important to our members over the years, and it’s now a motivating factor for them to support resale. About half of our consignors cite environmental impact or extending the life cycle of luxury items as key motivators for consigning, and roughly one-third of our customers say they shop TRR as a replacement for fast fashion. We’ve also seen demand for sustainable brands increase 3.6x over the past two years. The appetite for alternate (circular) models and support of sustainable brands is growing among all of our buyers and consignors, but particularly with millennials and Gen Z. Looking ahead, nearly half of our buyers say they will shop more sustainable brands and retailers in the coming decade, and 60% say they will buy more resale in the coming decade.
In earlier days, there was a misperception that the circular economy cannibalized traditional luxury retailers. The reality is that resale complements the primary market. The vast majority of our customers (90%) regularly shop the primary market. What we’re changing is their shopping behavior. We see shoppers look to resale as a barometer of value, checking resale value on TRR before purchasing items in the primary market, and investing in what best holds value. By making luxury more accessible, we’re also serving as a gateway and building earlier affinity for luxury brands that expands their audience.
As brands recognize this and focus more on reducing fashion’s impact on the environment, we’ve seen a significant shift in their attitude toward resale. We’re being proactively approached by more and more brands interested in supporting the circular economy.
By keeping luxury goods in circulation and out of landfills, we know luxury resale is inherently sustainable. But we wanted to quantify that impact and create visibility for our community into the specific impact of the items they are consigning and buying. We partnered with environmental consulting firm Shift Advantage to develop a custom, first-of-its kind calculator that measures the greenhouse gasses, energy output and water usage offset by consignment. We started with women’s ready-to-wear and have since expanded the calculator to include men’s apparel as well. Through the calculator, we’ve been able to determine we’ve saved 14,300 metric tons of carbon and 660 million liters of water since our founding.
We use data from the calculator to include the carbon and water savings of individual items on our product pages, and aggregate the savings of each member’s total consignments on their My Sales page. Our Sustainability Calculator helps us make the sustainability benefits of resale tangible and visible to our entire community.
Through our involvement with the UN Fashion Charter and other organizations, we’re working to impact change within the industry, and we are challenging ourselves to create meaningful change within our company as well. We were inspired by Gucci’s Marco Bizzarri and his CEO Carbon Neutral Challenge to take the pledge to go carbon neutral late last year, and we’ve hit the ground running ever since.
Our first step was to accurately measure our current carbon footprint, which we did in close partnership with Shift Advantage. With that baseline, we are now developing a plan to reduce our carbon emissions as much as possible and offset any emissions that can’t be eliminated (such as shipping).
The pandemic hasn’t impacted our commitment or our progress on the path to carbon neutrality. There is still a climate crisis, and it’s still critical we protect the health of our planet. We’re making and sharing progress on our newly-launched Social Impact page.
We’ve seen a real shift in designer sentiment toward resale in recent years. As we demonstrate the power of resale to complement the primary market, more and more designers are looking for ways to support the circular economy and encourage their buyers to extend the life of their pieces. Resale can be incredibly valuable for a designer by building brand awareness and affinity, particularly with younger buyers. As shoppers experience the elevated design and quality of luxury goods, they’re more likely to shift their future shopping habits to support those brands on both the primary and secondary markets.
During the pandemic, we’ve also seen a dramatic increase in brands interested in becoming business sellers with TRR. Since the beginning of May, we’ve seen supply from our B2B arm double compared to the same time last year, and interest from new business sellers is up 10x versus pre-COVID levels. Designers are embracing the ability to connect with our 16 million members and the long-term value in engaging them.
The Charter is focused on limiting global warming and inspiring climate action, both within and beyond the fashion industry. Collaborating across industry, almost 100 companies have pledged to set plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and achieve pledged net zero emissions by 2050. Together we’re supporting the goals of the Paris Agreement in limiting global temperature rise, collaborating in working groups focused on issues such as manufacturing improvements and standardized reporting.
By joining forces to drive the circular economy with Burberry as well as Stella McCartney, we’re helping promote a more sustainable future for fashion. Both partnerships encourage the brand’s shoppers to extend the life of their Burberry or Stella McCartney items by reselling them with TRR and encouraging them (through exclusive shopping experiences or credit) to go back and shop the brand in the primary market. Partnering to raise awareness of the importance of resale has a significant impact in buyers extending the life of their luxury goods. In one year of partnering with Stella McCartney, we drove a 65% increase in Stella consignors.
Fashion is a chameleon and the demand spikes we’ve seen indicate that it’s playing a lot of roles during this new reality of social distancing. It can bring comfort (we’ve seen unseasonable spikes in demand for cozy knitwear and sweats). It can be functional (using silk scarves as face coverings). It can bring flair (statement earrings, necklaces and tops for video calls). It can be an escape (festive dresses, swimwear). I think the beauty of fashion is that it can be something different, but equally meaningful, to each person.
I hope to see brands start designing more thoughtfully and in ways that are kinder to the planet. That starts with reevaluating the pace and practice of creation. It’s also about designing with an afterlife in mind and creating pieces that can and will have many lives. And I think we’ll see some major shifts in the traditional retail model as digital becomes increasingly important and brands start looking for new channels, like resale, that can connect their pieces with an engaged community of buyers.
Heading up Strategic Initiatives means I wear a lot of hats. That gives me the ability to be an advocate for sustainability across a lot of functions from an industry level as TRR’s representative in the UN Charter committee to partnering with brands to shine a spotlight on the importance of the circular economy to driving innovation within TRR on initiatives like our Sustainability Calculator and carbon neutrality pledge.
For more stories on Sustainability, be sure to check out Musings.
