This is a really good thing, but its biggest impact is barely being mentioned. Let’s change that.

Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, and Depop have made it easy to buy and sell our stuff. Less stuff goes the landfill. Less new stuff needs to be made.

While these platforms support all brands, retailers are now offering to buy and sell only their brand. The “Like New” program at lululemon [1] will buy back your lululemon outfits for store credit and sell you pre-loved clothing carefully inspected for quality and cleanliness [2].

Retailers do this because it makes customers more loyal, offers lower prices to attract new customers, and builds their reputation for sustainability [3]. “62 percent of millennials and Gen Z prefer to buy from sustainable brands and there is a growing trend of young consumers choosing to shop in secondhand stores” according to retail experts at First Insight [4].

So the biggest impact no one seems to be talking about? This only works when retailers produce timeless high-quality long-lasting products. We already produce way too much stuff [5]. Retailers will have to think again about following trends, how many new styles to produce each season, and what materials to use. We should be talking much more about how the fashion industry and other industries must change in this way.

In the meantime, here’s some businesses in Karmalize that have buy-back programs: lululemon, Allbirds, Armour Vert, M.M.LaFleur, Clare V., and STATE Bags.

[1] lululemon
[2] David Morin, Narvar for Retail Touchpoints, “What Recommerce can Teach Retailers About New Consumer Behaviors and Future-Proofing Sales”, January 2022
[3] Niall Murphy, Forbes, “There’s A Quiet Revolution Underway With Recommerce”, February 2021
[4] Shelley E. Kohan, First Insight, “Retail’s Growing Channel…Recommerce”, May 2022
[5] Rachael Dottle and Jackie Gu, Bloomberg, “The Global Glut of Clothing Is an Environmental Crisis”, February 2022