Farfetch & H&M invest in sustainability with resale platforms

Fashion resale has become a massive trend in the last few years, with secondhand clothing platform ThredUp reporting that the online resale market has grown 21 times as fast as firsthand sales in the last 3 years. By the end of the 2020s the secondhand market is predicted to be half as big again as fast fashion.

As the apparel market moves to become more sustainable and the practice of shipping unwanted clothing out to foreign shores becomes less practicable, it’s not surprising to see major fashion players turn to resale platforms to help recycle and re-use clothing. To that end, H&M recently took its investment in Sellpy to 182 million Swedish krona, with a commitment to invest an additional 60 million in coming years, totalling £19.4m at today’s exchange rates. After those investments the fast fashion giant will own a 74% stake in the resale platform.

The aim is for H&M to become ‘completely circular’ according to Nanna Andersen, who leads H&M’s investment division, CO:LAB. Currently there is no direct connection for H&M customers between H&M and Sellpy.

In the same arena, Farfetch has linked up with secondhand clothing platform Thrift+ to change how their customers deal with unwanted clothes. Where H&M are investing, Farfetch is partnering to give customers access to a free collection service for items they don’t want. These are then listed on Thrift+ and the customer receives a portion of the value of the sale as a credit to spend on Farfetch.