Exclusive: Patagonia wants resale business to be profitable, CEO says
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Ryan Gellert and Lisa Williams with Axios' Hope King at at Axios House Climate Week/UN General Assembly on Sept. 23 in New York. Photo: Sam Popp on behalf of Axios
Buying secondhand items is "becoming a norm and mainstream," Eileen Fisher CEO Lisa Williams told Axios on Monday.
Why it matters: After years of "revenge spending" in the aftermath of the pandemic, some Americans say they've been turning away from overconsumption and focusing more on sustainability.
- This summer, sustainability and "underconsumption core" began trending on TikTok, with creators sharing examples of how they're cutting back on buying material goods and extending the life of everything from clothing and shoes to toiletries and makeup in their videos.
- The hashtags and underlying sentiment have popped up also partly in response to inflation's grip on budgets as well as influencer fatigue — with some social media users pushing back on the glut of online influencers promoting products.
Driving the news: Williams and Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert discussed sustainability in the fashion industry at the Axios House Climate Week/UN General Assembly in New York City on Monday.
- Businesses can play a role in helping consumers make more "conscious" and "minimal consumption" decisions, Williams said.
- Eileen Fisher's latest efforts involve building tools to help people take stock of what they have in their closets and plan their purchases.
What they're saying: Gellert added that Patagonia is looking to launch a new shopping feature that easily shows consumers secondhand options of what they want to buy.
- "It's probably the only flattering thing I'll say about Amazon both tonight and ever — but the way that they make buying secondhand books accessible, I believe, must lead to a world where there's less virgin books printed, and that's the idea that we're aspiring for with apparel," said Gellert.
Zoom out: 63% of adults in the U.S. bought secondhand apparel online in 2023, up 17 percentage points from 2022, according to ThredUp.
- The trend is stronger among Gen Z and millennials, of which 71% have done the same.
- Retailers spot the demand and more executives in the industry are considering or planning to launch resale businesses for their brands — but to take in used clothing and resell them isn't currently profitable, Gellert and Williams said about Eileen Fisher and Patagonia's resale platform.
What we're watching: Resale makes up 2% of Eileen Fisher's business and about 1% of Patagonia's revenue, respectively.
- "We're working very hard to scale that, but it's worth it," said Williams.
- "On the resale side, our ambition is for that to be a profitable channel. And it's not because we need the profitability. It's to prove that this can be done so that, ultimately, it can scale," said Gellert.
Go deeper... Fashionably late: The apparel industry's shift toward sustainability
