For Brands May Come and Brands May Go
But their clothes will last forever
Today’s sustainable snapshot👇🏽
For Brands May Come and Brands May Go
Quiz of the Week
Startup 1: Beni
Startup 2: Treet
Startup 3: tooused
For Brands May Come and Brands May Go
A few days ago, the iconic ethical fashion brand Everlane was sold to Shein.
Business acquisitions happen all the time, so what’s new here?
Well, for starters, Everlane was a poster child of sustainable fashion. A direct-to-consumer basics brand that ran on the principles of sustainability and transparency.
It started in the early 2010s, and back then, it spoke about things like the cost of making a piece of clothing, moving garments through the supply chain with limited plastic use, and improving the quality of its workers' lives.
15-20 years ago, these things were unheard of. So Everlane was clearly ahead of its time.
Due to rising debt and other internal issues, it has recently been sold to Shein, the ultra-fast fashion giant that has more than 500,000 products on its website and is known to have unethical practices in its factories.
It’s a setback for everyone who built the brand or supported it by investing, working for it, or buying its products.
We don’t know how Everlane would operate under Shein, and if it would be able to hold its values under the new management.
But there’s one thing that we are sure of: its basics were designed to be worn for years.
So even if the brand may not last, the products that were made under its strong and ethical values will. And you can still get these products secondhand (in certain parts of the world). That’s something that is in our control, isn’t it?
For this week, I have 3 brands that are making it easy for clothes to have multiple lives.
But before we get into those brands, here is the quiz for this week:
⌛ Time for the quiz of the week
Note: Answer at the end of the newsletter. No one (including me) can see your response, so feel free to vote. 😉
Beni
The first brand that I want to cover today is Beni, which makes buying secondhand clothes as easy as buying new ones. They have a browser extension. If installed, when you are shopping for something new, it pops up and shows secondhand alternatives for the same product. Check the image below.
They also have an app where you can find a large assortment of secondhand clothes.
And lastly, they have launched Beni Lens, a visual search engine for secondhand fashion. Think of it like Google Lens. You like a dress, you take a screenshot of it, and then paste it into Beni Lens. It searches through its vast assortment of secondhand products to help you get the same product, but secondhand.
It also allows you to set alerts for your preferred product, and it keeps you updated if there are any new secondhand listings. Impressive, right?
Treet
Now we saw how Beni is making secondhand shopping easier for consumers. Treet is working on the brand side, making it easier for them to set up secondhand shops for their own clothes.
Most brands have a return option these days for new clothes. If the returned clothes are slightly used or torn, brands don’t put them up for sale again. That way, they lose the revenue. Also, a lot of these brands want to sell these clothes secondhand, but they don’t have the time and resources to set up a secondhand store.
Treet solves this problem through a plug-and-play model.
It offers these 4 solutions to brands:
Brands can choose one or more of them, and in a few clicks, their secondhand store is ready.
tooused
On the consumer side, tooused in India has come up with an interesting model. It sends you a Give Back Bag to your doorstep. You can then pack your clothes at your own pace.
The team collects the bag and does a 12-point quality inspection. In return, it gives you Tooused credits that you can redeem for Brand Vouchers or daily essentials like groceries, baby care, and household supplies.
The clothes are redistributed to thrift retailers, giving them a second life. If they cannot be resold, they are sent to certified textile recyclers.
Further Reads
If you are interested in reading more about secondhand shopping, here are a few articles that I have written:
In the past 5 years, I have written 800+ long-form articles on sustainability. From newsletters and blogs to whitepapers and case studies across B2B and B2C brands.
So if you need help with your long-form content, let’s chat. Hit reply, and we will take it from there :)
Quiz answer: Allbirds
Give that 💚 a little tap if this edition helped you learn something new about sustainability and climate change. Have a good weekend and see you next week :)