Circular fashion enabler Advanced Clothing Solutions (ACS) has announced a new resale partnership with online marketplace eBay.
ACS said the tie-up will allow eBay its pre-loved and resale offering while helping reduce waste in the fashion industry.
The aim of the partnership is to help more brands and retailers to create and quickly scale their resale divisions, ensuring clothes and other garments are kept in circulation for longer and not send straight to landfill when no longer wanted by their owner.
ACS’ eBay shop has been launched as part of the collaboration, with fashion retailer Monsoon the first company to take residence on the platform. ACS, which already provides fulfilment and cleaning services to support the rental operations of Moss Bros, LK Bennett, and others, promised that additional high street names are set to follow on the eBay shop.
According to ACS, the eBay deal also aims to tackle some of the misconceptions about quality and hygiene still prevalent in the second-hand market by operating with “strict quality controls and high standards of repair”.
Murray Lambell, UK vice president of eBay, said: “Our economy and our environment are in need of urgent repair.
“If we want our businesses to be here in 20 or 100 years’ time, we need to move away from our fixation on overconsumption and instead mark ourselves on circularity. There is huge commercial value in backing the resale economy and the retailers that are first to make the change and invest, will benefit the most in the long run.”
Jemma Tadd, head of fashion at eBay UK, added: “Pairing eBay’s reach among conscious customers, with ACS’ expertise in garment repair, resale, and recycling will help reduce waste in the fashion industry and showcase a kinder way to shop that benefits both people’s wallets and the planet.”
Andrew Rough, CEO of ACS, commented: “The surge in second-hand clothing sales is undoubtedly a reaction to the growing consumer conscience of sustainability in fashion as well as the increasing cost-of-living and the pressure this places on spending.”
ACS said it processes more than six million items each year at its 200,000 sq ft fashion hub. But the eBay tie-up is a step forward into a new direction for the business, coming days after it announced new growth funding from Circularity Capital.
“We seek to transform the fashion industry from the outdated take-make-dispose model toward a circular fashion solution that extends the life of existing textiles and diverts clothing from landfills,” Rough remarked.
“With eBay, we know this is possible.”
[Image credit: ACS]
