We’re in something of a resale renaissance. Having been in the industry for 30
years, I can say with confidence that the demand, cultural attitudes and
interest in buying & selling used items has never been stronger. This fuels our
mission to provide resale for everyone. Across all of
Winmark’s stores — Plato’s Closet®,
Once Upon a Child®, Play It Again Sports®, Music Go Round® and Style
Encore® — we’re recycling 432,000 items per day or about 5 items per second.
What’s most exciting for us is that demand isn’t driven by a single factor.
Gently used or slightly flawed
clothing
continues to be in style and in demand. The average person has more interest in
sustainable lifestyle
habits
than ever before, which is amplified by current inflation and supply chain
issues; but the degree to which a resale company is sustainable varies.
Resale is a great start to sustainability
Resale is nearly always more sustainable than buying new product off the rack.
According to the Clean Clothes
Campaign,
100 billion items of clothing are produced each year, while the lifespan of
these pieces has shortened by 50 percent in the past 15 years. As far as
clothing and apparel are concerned, consumers are buying more — and it’s just
not lasting as long.
That’s where resale plays a key role. Every item you buy via a resale business
is, in effect, kept out of a landfill.
Let’s go a bit deeper
Transforming fashion through materials innovation
Join us as leaders from Crocs, Hilos, Marchon Eyewear, Planet FWD and Target discuss real-world examples, practical strategies, and supply chain considerations for developing eco-friendly clothing, shoes, and accessories that minimize waste and protect the planet — Tuesday, Oct. 15, at SB'24 San Diego.
In a circular economy, all resale is not created equal. To understand what can
make a resale business more or less sustainable, let’s look at the resale
business models out there.
-
Consignment: In this scenario, a consumer lists an item with an
individual/business and retains ownership of the item until it is sold — at
which point the consumer receives a commission.
-
Direct to Consumer: Usually online-only, these websites let a user list
an item for sale or auction, keeping a cut of the proceeds.
-
Donation-based: A mission-driven, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
collects items that were given to the business for free, then sells them.
-
True resale: A business purchases an item outright from a consumer;
then, sells that item later.
In a nutshell: if you’re trying to discard something via resale, you have four
options: You can give it away. You can consign it. You can sell it to a company.
You can sell it to someone else.
There are plenty of great companies that can provide each option. Some are
online;
some are brick and mortar, and some even offer both. Each of these approaches
has its own benefits and drawbacks — including risk, convenience and, yes,
sustainability. For example, without generalizing too much, an online-only
approach to resale will usually end up being less sustainable than a
brick-and-mortar approach. Whether true resale, direct-to-consumer or
consignment, an online sale means shipping, and shipping means
CO2.
When looking at the transportation aspect of the transaction, donation-based and
true resale models usually are the least environmentally impactful.
Extending the value, and life, of fast fashion
When it comes to fast
fashion,
plenty of people have valid concerns over the negative environmental and social
externalities. Even so, fast-fashion
brands
do have a place in a circular economy.
Winmark brands and other companies have been able to interject and extend the
fast-fashion lifecycle by finding value in these low-quality goods. At Winmark,
we make a positive impact in this space by buying and selling many ranges of
clothing — including fast-fashion brands. If it already exists, we want to keep
it circulating and keep it out of landfills; and there continues to be strong
customer demand at these price points.
That said, not all resale models can support these kinds of transactions. When
it comes to online resale platforms that operate as agent not principal, buying
fast-fashion brands isn’t always profitable when you consider not only the value
of the item itself but also the shipping cost, emissions and packaging
footprint. In this case, being community-minded and locally owned means stores
minimize the quantity of touchpoints, packaging, fuel, resources, carbon
footprint, etc that go into buying and selling. This is one place Winmark excels
— as our distributed model, 1,270+ stores in local communities, has a positive
impact locally and is inherently more sustainable than any other model with
centralized facilities and excess shipping requirements.
Giving back to the community
To be sustainable, a company must go beyond environmental impact to also
consider how its operations affect surrounding communities. Many donation-based
resale businesses give back to the community through philanthropic endeavors;
while others, such as those involved in online resale, participate in community
engagement activities such as providing skill workshops.
For Winmark, this translates to buying clothes from consumers where each
franchise location pays out $350,000+/year to its local community — reaching
over $445 million in 2021. Some Winmark franchisees even go a step further in
engaging with the community. For example, Los Angeles-area Play It Again
Sports stores partner with the Kings Care
Foundation
to collect quality, used hockey gear and other pre-owned sports equipment to
provide to underserved youth. In doing so, they extend the life cycle of these
goods, keep them out of landfills, and begin educating the next generation on
sustainability issues.
So ... what makes a resale company truly sustainable?
There will always be something more that can be done when it comes to minimizing
a business’ environmental impact. With the resale market for apparel
estimated to grow to $77 billion by
2026
(up from $36 billion in 2021), sustainability is sure to become an increasingly
important factor for consumers to consider when debating where to sell and buy
their used goods.
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Renae Gaudette is Chief Operating Officer at Winmark Corporation, the "resale company."
Published Jul 5, 2022 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST