Shelter Boutique on Upper Street. Photo by Charlotte Mair
By Charlotte Mair
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to grind into the summer months, the impact on millions of people’s lives is evident. Non-essential items for many include new designer pieces.
Due to the increasing price of fashion from the High Street to the high-end stores, many customers are turning away from buying brand-new items of clothing. Even fast fashion sites are experiencing losses.
Boohoo have reported £90.7 million in losses in the past year, compared to a profit of £92 million in 2021. They have blamed the cost of living crisis directly for their loss of sales.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still prevalent in fashion, as it caused delays in the global production of goods. This exacerbates an increase in the luxury resale market as many of the new items being made were found to be of lower quality, and with month-long waitlists to purchase.
Luxury market growing
The designer resale market, conversely, has since seen a soaring profit. And according to data from Sign of The Times, an online consignment store, the luxury resale market is growing 4x faster than overall luxury.
Online consignment stores such as Vestiaire Collective have seen a huge increase in sales in recent months and have expanded their community to 23 million members globally across their site. As stated by the site the ‘thrill of the hunt’ of finding designer items on resale platforms accounts for 35% of why customers choose to buy second-hand luxury.
A recent report by the Boston Consulting Group and Vestiaire Collective showed that Gen Z was most likely to buy and sell second-hand items.
Dana Kamel, 22, a student, said: “I found a vintage Gucci Jackie bag on Vestiaire Collective for only £200 and the original retail price for the new re-edition is £2800, and it is exactly the same.”
Ella Embleton, 19, co-owns the designer resale online store Just Peachy Things, which specialises in vintage designer and archive pieces. She has experienced first-hand the growth in the resale market from her online store.
“There has been an increase in my sales during this period of time, and I think that’s mostly because of TikTok and how having ‘rare’/‘archive’ designer items is trendy at the moment,” she said.
“I also have a really broad price range on items, which makes it more accessible to people to buy good quality clothes.”
Embleton’s Depop store :
She added: “I do think people are investing in more stand-out pieces as even though some of my price points are high, they will just get higher over time due to the age and rarity of an item.”
With the increase in buying second-hand fashion, she explained how it can apply to only a certain demographic: ”I think it depends on who you are in regard to buying new pieces from a designer. If you are an influencer, for example, like Molly Mae – you would not expect to see her buying a 90s Miu Miu bag, but she would buy the new season re-edition.
“It also depends on what ‘aesthetic’ people have/are going for, as well as their fashion interests. Buying vintage ‘designer’ has been around for a very long time, you see people like Kylie and Kendall Jenner wearing old, vintage Dior and Miu Miu.”
Is there a decline in young people buying retail prices from designer brands? Embleton said: “I think buying current designer/new season pieces has definitely deteriorated amongst people aged 18-24, depending on what their fashion influences are.
“As someone who runs a shop and sells second-hand designer-that is my age demographic, as people do not have the money to spend £1k + on a designer handbag, but £150 can be seen as more in ‘budget’.
“I feel like if people aren’t into being sustainable or prefer to live a more ‘lavish’ lifestyle, they would definitely be buying into the new season’s pieces.”
Designer resale market booming
The influences too on the runway from previous collections are also prevalent in the resale market. “There are definitely requests to sort original pieces from previous runway collections. They are rare and sort-after pieces, and when someone knows something is ‘rare’ and ‘hard to come by’- it definitely makes a strong desire to find the item,” she said.
“Especially with the mentality of having something that nobody else has/ or it being the ‘original’”.
Ella herself also commits largely to shopping second-hand, as she said: ”About 99.9% of my clothes are bought second hand. Whether that’s designer vintage pieces or just random bits that are just second-hand. That 00.1% is from me shopping from sustainable/small businesses like Cou Cou Intimates or Paloma Wool.
“It’s good to invest in sustainably made clothing – I know some price points can be high, but it’s extremely good quality and will last a very long time. Sustainability is incredibly important to me, and I really stick by that with more than clothes-travel, lifestyle etc.”
Islington has numerous stores to shop for resale designer pieces. Shelter Boutique on Upper Street has curated a collection of designer items from day-to-day garments alongside stand-out runway pieces. Save the Children, a two-minute walk from Shelter, is also stocked with designer pieces from labels such as Marc by Marc Jacobs, Prada, and Chanel.
Further along Upper Street, situated downstairs in Giovanni Hair & Beauty Salon, is a treasure trove of vintage designer pieces at a fraction of their retail prices. Stand-out pieces including a £45 pair of vintage Gucci high heels and Prada jeans for £95.
Watch : Thrifting Islington by Charlotte Mair
Finding bargains in charity shops
Designer items can also be found regularly in charity shops. Caitlin Denton, who works in fashion communications, said: “I once found a pair of £5 Issey Miyake pleats please shorts for £5 in a British Heart Foundation charity shop in Southeast London. In the same shop, I also found a £7 Prada cardigan too.” Both items would retail for significantly more than what Caitlin had purchased them for.
Retail industry superpower Selfridge’s has given prominence to the positioning of second-hand garments and accessories. Devoting valuable square – footage in their stores has led to a 240% increase in pre-loved item sales. This will undoubtedly encourage other stores to emulate this success.
It is apparent that the fashion-forward continue the demand for second-hand designer items. The provenance of the garment has become more important for many. Sourcing and acquiring items with the knowledge that no one else will have them is also significant. This investment in rare finds, consideration of price per wear and the consideration of shopping sustainably has created this consumer shift.
Infographic by Charlotte Mair
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