PARIS – Vestiaire Collective’s move to take fast fashion out of its brand mix has resulted in a lift within the positive environmental impact from its resale model, in line with its latest impact report.

Last November the corporate moved to ban fast fashion brands, including Asos, Shein, Burton, Fashion Nova, Pretty Little Thing, Missguided, Topman, Topshop and Tezenis, amongst others.

According the the impact report, 80 percent of respondents said that they’re investing in higher-quality pieces because of this and 58 percent said they’re buying fewer fast fashion items as an upscaling knock-on effect of buying higher items.

“It’s a positive sign to say, ‘You realize what, you possibly can live without fast fashion, and move on to raised made and more sustainable brands,’” Vestiaire Collective cofounder and president Fanny Moizant told WWD.

The platform surveyed 3,500 customers from its markets, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, U.K., U.S., Australia and Hong Kong.

Eighty-five percent of respondents also said they’re willing to purchase fewer, but high-quality, items going forward, putting the “less is more” ethos into practice. Eighty-two percent said that due to their purchase on Vestiaire Collective, they didn’t buy a latest item, a jump from just 70 percent last yr.

Only 16 percent of sellers said they use their proceeds to purchase latest items; as a substitute, the bulk are reinvesting in other high-end resale items.

The survey is sweet news for brands which are seeking to construct long-term care into their business models, with 53 percent reporting they repair items to lengthen their life and 60 percent reporting they take higher care of their items knowing they’ll resell them later.

After initially removing 20 brands from sale, the corporate will roll out two additional phases before 2025. The response from users has been positive, with 70 percent of respondents upgrading their purchases because of this. They’re continuing to research this number to evaluate if the extra 30 percent will return.

“The challenge now’s to define how we enter phase two and phase three, to work with experts to define a technique and to find a way to define ‘fast fashion.’ There isn’t a clear definition and so defining the standards and ensuring we apply them to the complete catalog of Vestiaire’s greater than 10,000 brands,” said Moizant.

Criteria they’re considering are garment quality, the label’s volume of production, marketing that promoted over-consumption, in addition to social impact and what regulations they produce under. The corporate expects to find a way to disclose the second round of brands by the tip of 2023.

The corporate will proceed its educational efforts to lift awareness of the environmental effects of the disposal of fast fashion, along with The Or Foundation. “Seeing the damage it has caused within the Global South really woke up a few of our customers,” said Moizant of the campaign. “They understood a bit higher the damage of over-consumption on the population of Ghana, for instance. It drove loads of questions and discussions. It was well received.”

The attention appears to be working. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they’re using Vestiaire Collective not only in pursuit of labels, but to scale back their environmental impact, and 56 percent said that knowing the lower environmental impact of reused items encourages their purchases.

Moizant noted that previously “affordability” was the driving reason customers went to Vestiaire Collective, with “sustainability” dead last. This yr that modified — “sustainability” moved as much as the second spot.

Moizant said this negates any arguments that resale is just one other sort of overconsumption.

“It’s how will we mainly decelerate an industry that’s over-consuming? Now we have no power on production, but on consumption, we are able to definitely attempt to help people slow the pace by investing in quality and making it last more,” she said.

Also they are working on tracking how again and again an item re-enters the Vestiaire Collective marketplace, to get a greater understanding of how truly circular the platform is. While it’s difficult to trace a single item, anecdotal evidence from the corporate’s authentication process shows that items are being resold multiple times. “We do see, at the tip of the day, the more qualitative item you purchase, the higher the lifespan shall be.”

They partnered with Chloé this yr to launch a digital ID with product and material information, in addition to resale options. It’s an indication of things to return for Vestiaire, which is working on similar partnerships in the longer term.

The corporate can also be collaborating quietly with other brands, providing durability data obtained from products sold through Vestiaire’s authentication service. “As we’ve the product in hand, we’re able to envision the standard and tell [a brand], ‘On this bag or this dress, we regularly see the seams being a bit damaged here,’ and so forth. Brands are wanting to receive that qualitative feedback that they were never in a position to have before since it is post-consumer purchase,” said Moizant.

“We’re closing a loop that can assist in the long term produce much more durable items. It has been created very organically, because our common DNA is in standing for craftsmanship and quality and sturdiness.”

The corporate can also be supporting the Prolonged Producer Responsibility for textiles on the EU legislative level and advocating for fair distribution on how its fees are applied at end of life. “If the product results in Ghana, the cash shouldn’t stay within the Global North. There’s a fairness to be defined on the policy level,” she said.

Last yr Vestiaire crossed the online positive threshold — meaning that emissions avoided by purchasing second hand from the location exceed those the corporate generates — and that rate has increased nearly 3 times this yr as the corporate has grown.

Moizant said they should not slowing down, and can speed up their resale as a service division. She expects to unveil several big latest brand partnerships within the second half of the yr.

“That’s what we call systemic change,” she added.