(Photo Credit: Stella McCartney)
Stella McCartney’s fashion and lifestyle brand has extended its partnership with luxury consignment company The RealReal through 2019 to keep products out of landfills. Shoppers who consign with The RealReal receive a $100 store credit to shop at Stella retail stores or online, the companies say.
When designer McCartney and The RealReal’s CEO Julie Wainwright initially joined forces, it marked the first time that a luxury brand actively began pushing for items to be consigned, Forbes contributor Mario Abad wrote.
Their partnership has yielded strong results so far, the two women say. The RealReal consignors of Stella McCartney items has increased 65% and the number of the brand’s items consigned increased by 74%, year over year. Founded in 2011 as an online startup, the luxury consignment company now has store locations in cities across the United States.
The need for a shift in the industry is pressing. Last year, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Fibers Initiative found that every second, humanity trashes or burns enough clothing to fill a garbage truck. Well-known fashion brands are getting called out for their practices, too. Recently that included Burberry, which came under fire for destroying finished luxury products and agreed in September to end the practice.
At COP24 in Poland, Burberry joined McCartney and dozens of other fashion industry representatives to become founding signatories of the UN Climate Change’s Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action. The charter envisions net zero emissions within the fashion industry by 2050.
“We have been working for years to ensure that our supply chains represent some of the most traceable and sustainable in fashion while also continuing to ensure that our products, which are made to last, have long lives and never end up as waste,” McCartney said earlier this year.
Her brand’s partnership with The RealReal has created an easy way for customers to participate in a circular economy, she noted.
“The success of this innovative partnership between The RealReal and Stella McCartney shows the exciting opportunities to create a thriving fashion industry, where the clothes we love never become waste,” said Francois Souchet, Make Fashion Circular lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Getting It Done: Mentioned in This Article…
We are currently accepting submissions for the 2019 Environmental Leader Awards. Learn more and submit a project or product here.