- WRAP finds golden thread in circular business models as Depop, eBay, Vestiaire Collective, The Seam, SOJO and Finisterre displace new sales.
- For every 5 items repaired, 4 displace a new purchase - 82.2%
- For every 5 preloved items bought, 3 displace new a purchase - 64.6%
- Repairing one cotton t-shirt instead of buying a brand new one could save over 7.5kg CO2e, equivalent to ironing for 25 hours.
- Buying a second-hand pair of jeans online instead of buying a brand-new pair could save over 30kg CO2e, equivalent to making 600 cups of tea.
A new report from WRAP, working with leading resale and repair businesses and brands, shows the positive impacts that a range of circular business models are having in stopping the purchase of new clothes. The insights are outlined in the report Displacement Rates Untangled and make essential reading for the UK, which in 2024 was the fourth highest consumer of clothing of any nation, after the USA, China and India.
Harriet Lamb, WRAP CEO, said “Our research shows that buying preloved both satisfies our desire for clothes, for something new-to-us, and means we don’t buy so many brand-new items. What’s more, we can now clearly and consistently measure the environmental case for a range of circular business models including repair - for the first time. I encourage companies to adopt this new technique – customers are looking to them for new services like repair and renting.”
Clothing has a huge impact on the environment from growing raw materials such as cotton to textile waste, pollution, water and land use - 70% of the industry’s GHG emissions are in upstream activities linked to raw materials and production of new clothing. As an industry, the UN Environment Programme estimates that clothing is the second-biggest consumer of water and produces around 10% of global carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
A huge factor is rising production and overconsumption - between 2000 and 2015, worldwide clothing production doubled. The textiles sector needs to radically rethink how it does business. One way is by implementing and scaling-up circular business models.
Until now, one factor hampering progress has been a failure to agree a consistent methodology for assessing the benefits of new ways of selling. Working with leaders in the preloved and repair marketplace Depop, eBay, Vestiaire Collective, The Seam, SOJO and brand Finisterre, WRAP calculated the extent to which the rise of repair and resale can displace new sales, and how much they help offset the environmental cost of clothing.
The global environmental action NGO found that for every five times people repair existing items of clothing, four new items of clothing are ‘displaced’ by people no longer buying them. And for every five items bought second-hand online, three new items are subsequently not bought on average, as a result. Respectively, the average displacement rate for repair is high at 82.2% and 64.6% for resale.
“There’s nothing better than finding a bargain online, or in your local charity shop. Our data now quantifies the big environmental savings from preloved and repair. This is great news for shoppers as it shows that introducing a little circular living into your life reduces the price and the environmental price tag too.”
Harriet Lamb
WRAP’s insights have established clear benchmarks for repair and resale using data from the six companies and helped to develop a single methodology that can be applied by businesses of all shapes and sizes, to give robust and comparable data. Quantifying the impacts of circular business models is vital for organisations looking to demonstrate the benefits to customers, and who wish to make statements around avoided emissions.
How the sums add up
- Buying a second-hand pair of jeans online instead of buying a brand-new pair could save over 30kg CO2e, equivalent to making 600 cups of tea.
- Buying a second-hand pair of trainers online instead of buying a brand-new pair could save over 12kg CO2e, equivalent to streaming on-demand TV for almost 10 days.
- Repairing one cotton t-shirt instead of buying a brand new one could save over 7.5kg CO2e, equivalent to ironing for 25 hours.
- Repairing a hole in your favourite wool jumper instead of buying a new one could save over 16kg CO2e, equivalent to leaving a standard (60W) lightbulb on for over 50 days.
- Repairing a rip in your waterproof jacket instead of buying a new one could save over 45kg CO2e, equivalent to running almost 300 washing cycles.
WRAP is now calling on companies to adopt the new standardised way to measure resale and repair, based on this nationwide research. While the focus of Displacement Rates Untangled is repair and resale circular business models, the methodology could be applied to other models including redistribution and rental and applied outside the UK.
The report was unveiled at WRAP’s Textiles 2030 annual Circular Summit for signatories to the UK’s only industry-wide voluntary agreement tackling waste, water stress and emissions in the UK’s textile sector, which took place this month. The global environmental action NGO will also publish the first in a new set of Circular Living Standards later this year - for Preloved clothing.
Ends
Notes to Editor
Notes to editor and Supporting quotes
- Justine Porterie, Director of Sustainability & DEI, Depop, "At Depop, we're on mission to make fashion circular. We believe in the power of resale to offer a credible and less impactful alternative to shopping new - and are keen to prove it with data. We've been on a journey to measure our impact for some years now, and that's why we welcome an industry aligned methodology for calculating the displacement rate. Collaboration is crucial to reinforce the case for new circular fashion businesses and pave the way for an industry built on circular principles."
- Renée Morin, Chief Sustainability Officer, eBay, “eBay sellers and buyers worldwide have embraced recommerce for its economic benefits and positive impact on the planet. Through recommerce, we’re extending the life of products, diverting them from landfills, and empowering customers to make sustainable choices. We are proud to partner with WRAP to establish a more standardized methodology for calculating avoided emissions for shopping preloved items and will continue to find ways to empower consumers to make sustainable choices every day.”
- Dounia Wone, Chief Impact Officer, Vestiaire Collective, “At Vestiaire Collective, we believe that measuring impact is key to promoting second-hand fashion. The substitution rate is becoming a crucial KPI, as it reflects changing consumer behaviour and how circularity is driving a shift away from first-hand purchases. We were the first resale platform to define our substitution rate, and we’ve been working on this for years. We fully support efforts to establish a standardized approach, as it will bring consistency and credibility to the circular industry.” Amy
- Brock-Morgan, Head of Lived & Loved Repairs, Finisterre, “I have worked in repair for over 7 years and the industry has rapidly changed in this time. It is fundamental WRAP has captured this tangible data to quantitively back up the progressive nature of repair. The industry and brands can now start to build on this influential knowledge to shape future strategy and engagement. I am excited to bring this data back to our Finisterre community and continue threading the needle and patching up our customers kit ready for their next adventure – creating a wave of change.”
- Layla Sargent, Founder & CEO, The Seam, “Clothing repair has the potential to turn worn out pieces into wearable, desirable fashion. This research demonstrates just how much our customers truly love their clothes, along with the potential for the fashion industry to enable people to make their clothing last.”
- Josephine Philips, Founder & CEO, Sojo, “We are so honoured and excited to be working with WRAP to help conduct this industry-shaping research. For too long the tangible impact of clothing repair in helping to reduce landfill, CO2 emissions and water consumption has not been understood. This data is a crucial next step in the circular fashion industry to be able to highlight the numerical impact of clothing repair. For us, this research has been particularly significant in communicating impact to our brand partners and key industry players to help push for more circular practices.”
- Displacement rate - for resale, a second-hand purchase can displace the purchase of a brand-new item when the citizen would have otherwise purchased the same, or a similar item, brand-new. A second-hand purchase would not displace a new purchase if the purchase was done impulsively, in addition to brand-new purchases, or because the citizen would have only purchased second-hand regardless.
- Circular Business Models - maximise the utilisation of resources by keeping products in circulation for longer. Revenue is generated from service provision and reuse, rather than the volume of new goods sold. This means the industry can reduce the number of products made and virgin resources used, while remaining profitable and serving the needs of a growing consumer population, contributing towards both revenue and environmental targets.
- Displacement Rates Untangled was supported by the IMPACT+ Network, led by Northumbria University and funded by the UKRI Circular Fashion and Textiles Programme: NetworkPlus – a trilateral initiative from the Natural Environment Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council and Innovate UK.
- Photograph shows WRAP CEO Harriet Lamb and student from Falmouth University at Anthropy23.
- Finisterre is a clothing brand offering a repair service to customers, making their displacement information critical to show uptake of the service to its existing customers.
- WRAP is a global environmental action NGO catalysing policy makers, businesses and individuals to transform the systems that create our food, textiles and manufactured products. Together these account for nearly 50% of global greenhouse emissions. Our goal is to enable the world to transition from the old take-make-dispose model of production to more sustainable approaches that will radically reduce waste and carbon emissions from everyday products. To do so we examine sustainability challenges through the lens of people’s day-to-day lives and create solutions that can transform entire systems to benefit the planet, nature and people. Our work includes: UK Plastics Pact, Courtauld Commitment 2030, Textiles 2030 and the campaigns Love Food Hate Waste and Recycle Now. We run Food Waste Action Week and Recycle Week.