Vestiaire Collective bans fast fashion on its platform

As part of its goal to “combat fashion waste,” fashion resale specialist Vestiaire Collective will outlaw the resale of fast fashion on its international platform.

The move is a part of its “Better Friday” effort and was designed to fall during the Black Friday bonanza sales season. It has used the hashtag #saynottofastfashion to publicize the project.

The international company, which has its headquarters in France, claimed that a visit to Kantamanto, Ghana, in October of this year, where 15 million articles of unneeded clothing come each week, served as inspiration for the decision. A large portion of it destroys the environment when it is dumped in landfills.

The Or Foundation, a US-based public charity and a Ghanaian registered organization that has been active in both nations since 2011, accompanied Vestiaire Collective on the journey.

Its goal is to “find and present alternatives to the prevailing model of fashion – alternatives that inspire individuals to create a relationship with fashion that extends beyond their function as consumers and that bring forth ecological prosperity, as opposed to destruction.”

Asos, Atmosphere, Boohoo, Burton, Cider, Coast, Dorothy Perkins, Fashion Nova, Karen Millen, Miss Selfridge, Missguided, Na-kd, Nasty Gal, Oasis, Pretty Little Thing, Shein, Tezenis, Topman, Topshop (and collaborations), and Warehouse are among the brands that will be banned from the resale platform.

The change is anticipated to have an impact on about 5% of Vestiaire Collective’s listings. Vestiaire Collective is normally positioned at the premium-luxury end of the market. The corporation is taking two further steps to make sure that its restriction on fast fashion doesn’t result in additional waste. The first is to advocate on behalf of Extended Producer Responsibility legislation at the national level with The Or. The second is to come up with useful fixes for the fast fashion items that customers currently own, such as recycling, upcycling, and thoughtful donation techniques. The goal is to completely eliminate quick fashion by “Better Friday” 2024.

Dounia Wone, Vestiaire’s chief impact officer, said that they took this move because they don’t want to be complicit in this sector, which has a significant negative impact on the environment and society. The existing system promotes excessive manufacturing and consumption of low-quality goods and creates a significant quantity of fashion waste.