thredUP rebrand reflects growing consumer ‘shift to thrift’
Image credit: thredUP
Today, online fashion consignment marketplace
thredUP launches a rebrand that reflects a new
generation of thrifters who are proud to wear used clothing. The new brand
celebrates the growing ‘shift to
thrift;’
and pays tribute to thredUP’s customers, who are creating a more sustainable
future for fashion.
“In the early days of thredUP, our goal was to convert skeptics. Our brand was
designed to shake up preconceptions about secondhand and build trust,” said
Anthony Marino, thredUP’s President. “Today, we have less convincing to do.
Skeptics have become fans and advocates. Stigma has been replaced by pride. We
have a new opportunity to create a brand that is authentically and
unapologetically thrift.”
Founded in 2009, thredUP set out to modernize and de-stigmatize thrift, with the
goal of making used clothes the new normal — at a time when shopping secondhand
was still looked down upon. The company designed a modern resale experience that
took the work and risk out of thrift, and converted a generation of secondhand
skeptics to fans. Sellers send clothes directly to thredUP by the bagful, and
buyers shop quality-checked items from over 35,000 brands at steep discounts.
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A decade later, thredUP says the secondhand stigma has nearly dissolved and
millions of consumers are thrifting like never before. Secondhand is estimated
to be a $28 billion market (as of 2019) and growing fast, with 70 percent of
consumers saying they are open to buying secondhand products. Roughly 2 in 3
consumers say they see no stigma in wearing used clothing, and most are actually
proud to buy it. This is especially true of Gen Z — the largest consumer
cohort
globally,
as of 2019; and the generation that’s looking to brands to help create a
‘radically better
future’
— these conscientious shoppers see thrift as a way to broadcast their
sustainable values to the world.
thredUP’s new brand is inspired by the confidence the company has seen among its
customers who shop with intention, flaunt their thriftiness, and seek to
influence others — exemplifying the brand’s new tagline, “Thrift Loudly.” The
brand strategy is rooted in the accelerating conscious consumption, fueled by a
belief that the clothes we wear have the power to create change. Patterns that
convey circularity are a nod to thredUP’s mission of giving new life to used
clothes, keeping garments in use and out of landfill.
With over 35,000 brands, thredUP is for everyone — and the brand and launch
campaign aim to convey the inclusivity of thrift; and the fact that secondhand
democratizes sustainability, as well as luxury.
Levi’s® SecondHand platform launches in the US
L-R: Xiye Bastida, Dominique Drakeford, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez and Whitney R. McGuire | Images credit: Rachael Wang/Levi's Secondhand
thredUP’s relaunch follows the launch earlier this week of Levi’s®
SecondHand in the US — part of Levi Strauss’
larger commitment to making fashion sustainable and circular. This marks the
first-of-its-kind buy-back program for a global denim brand; it enables
customers to purchase secondhand jeans and jackets on Levi.com, while also
allowing them to bring their worn jeans and jackets into Levi’s stores for a
gift card towards a future purchase.
Levi’s Secondhand will offer users $15-25 for denim that can be resold and
$30-35 for vintage denim — even if your Levi’s denim is too worn out, customers
can still receive $5 towards a future purchase. All of these SecondHand items
will then be available on the SecondHand marketplace at reduced prices, making
Levi’s items accessible to a wider base of consumers. The brand is aiming to
make SecondHand denim second nature, in the hopes that it will inspire more
denim labels to introduce a similar offering.
“Repurposing and repairing clothes requires minimal additional energy input, no
water, and no dyes to make more jeans. Buying a used pair of Levi’s through
SecondHand saves approximately 80 percent of the CO2 emissions and 700 grams of
waste compared to buying a new pair of Levi’s,” says Jennifer Sey, Levi’s
Chief Marketing Officer.
For the SecondHand campaign, Levi’s sought out an impressive list of names in
the environmental movement as models — Xiye Bastida, an 18-year-old
Mexican-Chilean climate activist who’s been called “America’s Greta
Thunberg”;
Dominique Drakeford, environmental
educator, community advocate, co-founder of Sustainable
Brooklyn, and founder and editor of Melanin & Sustainable
Style (MelaninASS); Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, hip-hop artist and youth
director of Earth Guardians; and
Whitney R. McGuire, attorney, business
consultant, and co-founder of Sustainable
Brooklyn.
Levi Strauss says that encouraging consumers to look at secondhand with a new
lens is essential because the fashion industry is continuing to produce an
unprecedented number of garments every year. And recycling rates are still low:
Just 1 percent of the world’s textile waste is recycled into new garments.
Levi’s garments are traditionally built to last; and the brand has long
encouraged customers to ensure the longevity of their items by washing them
less.
The company has also ventured into truly circular fashion with its recent
Wellthread™ Recycled Denim
collection
— launched in July, in addition to giving previously loved Levi’s jeans and
jackets a second life through the SecondHand platform.
Levi Strauss has partnered with recommerce technology and logistics company
Trove (fka
Yerdle)
to handle the backend operations of the Levi’s SecondHand resale platform —
including cleaning, inventory processing and fulfillment.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Oct 8, 2020 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST