Selfridges doubles down on fashion resale and rental in sustainability push

The push comes amid a rising focus on sustainability in the apparel industry, where growth has been fuelled by throwaway "fast fashion”. Photo: Selfridges

Selfridges & Co is pushing further into selling pre-worn clothing, offering rental services and repairing used items as the UK department-store chain seeks ways to reduce the fashion industry’s weighty environmental impact.

Since 2020, Selfridges has increased sales of previously owned items by 240%, according to a report Friday (Sept 2) in which it sets out new goals.

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The retailer has made more than 28,000 repairs, rented more than 2,000 items and sold more than 8,000 refills of beauty products and other goods since last year.

Reselfridges, as the initiative is known, makes up less than 1% of transactions. Selfridges plans for that to increase to 45% by 2030.

The push comes amid a rising focus on sustainability in the apparel industry, where growth has been fuelled by throwaway "fast fashion”.

Selfridges is best known for its giant shopping emporium on London’s Oxford Street but also has stores in Birmingham and Manchester and an online division. The company is opening sneaker-repair workshops in Birmingham and Manchester following the success of a London version.

Later this year it will also start repairing denim in the Oxford Street store.

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"What we really need is radical transformation and that means really looking at the platform and how we can use that platform for meaningful change,” Selfridges managing director Andrew Keith said.

A Thai-Austrian joint venture last month completed a deal to take over Selfridges from the billionaire Weston family in a deal worth almost £4bil (RM20.6bil). – Bloomberg