PARIS — Three years after first banning fast fashion from its listings, resale platform Vestiaire Collective is trying to change the game once again.
This time around it is going upstream to work on an education campaign with influencers famous for their fast-fashion “haul” videos. The company wants to see if it can change consumer behavior before they hit the cash register.
“We’re going one step even further into the mindset and the psychology of customers before they shop,” Vestiaire Collective cofounder and chief executive officer Fanny Moizant said in an interview.
It has enlisted five influencers known for their “haul” videos, in which they show off heaps of fast-fashion purchases on social platforms. The company decided to engage with shopping influencers because “they are a big part of the equation in terms of driving overconsumption,” said Moizant.
“We know the practices of the fast-fashion brands is an unsustainable model, but we also really deeply feel that somehow their success is powered by social media,” she said. “This industry of influence is cross platform [and] definitely fuels bad habits into the consumers.”
With consumers spending increasing amounts of time on social platforms — latest data from Global Web Index shows that the average user spends 2 hours and 23 minutes per day scrolling — they are pushed to purchase.
It’s the third phase of the platform’s fast-fashion campaign that has seen more than 60 brands banned, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Asos, Gap, Old Navy, H&M, Mango, Uniqlo, Urban Outfitters, Shein, Topshop and Zara, among others.
Last year the company released eye-catching images of world landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace and Times Square covered in clothing waste to highlight the growing problem of fashion waste that sees 92 million tons of textiles tossed each year.
The campaign was designed to spur consumers to think about the long-term effects of their buying.
The educational campaign goes even further to follow the chain from billion-dollar corporations on down.
“Influencers are pivotal in the way we think as consumers. So if we can help them or educate them to shift their behavior and their business model even a little bit, it will be beneficial for the rest of the community,” she said.
The five influencers with a combined following of more than two million will participate in the six-month program. It kicks off this week with Moizant speaking with the influencers one-on-one and sharing educational videos.
The schedule will include masterclasses with experts to explore the problem from different angles, including industry insiders, NGOs and people on the ground at waste sites, as well as psychologists.
“The Psychology of Fashion” author Carolyn Mair will speak about consumer behavior and how insecurity fuels consumption, and “Consumed” author Aja Barber will also be invited. Working with established sustainable influencers will be pivotal to the program, added Moizant: “They are taking a stand and showing it is possible to do things differently.”
The final step of the program will be to take the influencers to a clothing waste site in the Global South to see the environmental and social impacts firsthand.
“It’s one thing to watch a movie or 10 minutes of film, but it’s another thing to be on the ground and to witness what potentially you have participated in creating,” said Moizant. Her visit to Ghana’s Kantamanto Market with NGO The Or Foundation is what spurred the campaign’s start.
Fanny Moizant
Courtesy
Moizant frames it as co-creating the program, as the company will conduct studies with the participants to measure success and see what, if anything, clicks with the influencers over time.
She is keenly aware the influencers make money from their partnerships with fast-fashion brands, and the company will work with the influencers to explore new business models.
The opening educational video will be available on the company’s social channels, along with fact sheets and “digestible” information for consumers who want to make a change.
“We think if you change your feed and what you are exposed to on a daily basis, you could change the world and at least your own consumption, and if we all do the same, we can dramatically change this industry,” Moizant said.
With the learnings from the program, Vestiaire Collective hopes to launch a larger-scale program in 2025.
Vestiaire Collective is also intensifying its lobbying and actively advocating for policy changes.
The company, which now has an in-house lobbyist on their team, is pressing the French Senate to take up and strengthen the “anti-fast fashion law” bill passed by the assembly earlier this year. That bill would enshrine a definition of fast fashion based on the number of clothing items released annually and educate consumers about the environmental impact of their purchases.
Key to the proposed law would be a ban on advertising for brands and stores that fall under the definition, which would extend to influencers and their content, enforced with hefty fines.
“France has shown that it was leading the way in terms of legislation on sustainable fashion,” said Moizant, noting the country’s Anti-Waste Circular Economy Law passed in 2022.
If the country could follow through on refining the definition of fast fashion and instituting the ad bans, it could be a game changer for the industry.
“We see it as a shame not to proceed, and indeed, on the marketing, advertising and influencer side, it’s going to be a groundbreaking legislation, because it’s going to mark a precedent,” she said.
The group also continues to lobby at the EU level, focused on topics such as reforming tax on secondhand sales and extended producer responsibility initiatives, and intends to sharpen its advocacy strategy by the end of the year.
“There are moments when we can move the needle in a way that is going to be very positive for the whole industry,” Moizant added. “So we’re starting small, but we have big plans.”
