Australian shoppers are increasingly buying and selling second-hand clothing items and want more sustainable, gender-diverse and inclusive brands, according to a new report by Afterpay.
The rise of recommerce – the selling of previously owned products – is evident with 67 per cent of respondents saying they had bought or sold second-hand clothing items.
The company’s report – Australian Fashion’s New Era – polled a nationally representative sample of 1017 Australians aged 18 and over and found that nearly half or 45.8 per cent of Australians buy at least one item each month.
Price is a major determinant when shopping for 83 per cent of respondents while 40 per cent want to find sustainable items.
About 18 per cent of respondents resell unwanted items on platforms such as Ebay, Depop or Facebook resale groups while three-quarters or 70 per cent take clothes to second-hand shops when they no longer use them.
When it comes to making sustainable purchases, 60.1 per cent say it’s too expensive, 47 per cent felt it is difficult to find sustainable brands and 40 per cent expressed that there aren’t enough sustainable Australian brands.
Anthony Eisen, a co-founder of Afterpay, said the report reveals that Australian shoppers are “eager to see meaningful change” across areas from homegrown fashion brands.
Leila Naja Hibri, CEO of The Australian Fashion Council, who contributed to the foreword for the report, said the findings reflect an “exciting opportunity” to achieve a socially, environmentally and economically prosperous industry.
“At a time when the industry is facing inflationary pressures, combined with shortages of skilled workers and materials, we need to transform outdated business models to better support a thriving, resilient industry.”
