The Fast Fashion Paradox and the Second Hand Solution eBook

The Fast Fashion paradox and
the Second Hand solution
October 2020

As an insight agency, our goal is to help our clients
grow within the youth market by better understanding
Gen Z and Millennials.
We typically help our clients navigate youth culture to
remain relevant, achieve cut-through and grow within
the youth market.

Our Take
Fast fashion and second hand shopping share a common audience in
Gen Z. While it’s no secret that Gen Z are trying to save the world
from climate change, they are still living their lives in pictures on
social media, using fast fashion as a status symbol. We see second
hand shopping as a sustainable alternative to fast fashion,
providing Gen Z with unique and affordable pieces.
This ebook seeks to explore Gen Z’s multi-faceted attitudes and
values, by using their clothes shopping habits to shine a light on
their paradoxical behaviours.
Many of the data points shown in the ebook have been taken from
our State of the Youth Nation insight tracker. Our tracker helps
brands and organisations stay on top of the evolving attitudes and
behaviours of young people.
Get in touch to see how State of the Youth Nation can help you win
over the next generation – research@youthsight.com

STATE OF THE YOUTH NATION
helping you make better youth market decisions
Tracking the decision-making of 16-24s since 2015

Fashion is disposable for Gen Z…
23%
Of Gen Z buy an item and wear it
once before chucking it out 1
Almost
1 in 10
Buy more than ten items a month
from online fast fashion retailers 1
Source: Vice x Snapchat (1)

Gen Z live their lives in
pictures; and fast fashion
allows them to do so
Gen Z have a do it for the ‘gram mentality. They want to look like
they are living their best lives on social media – it’s a status
symbol.
Fashion is a tool used by Gen Z to establish social currency.
This has fuelled “wear it once” culture. Once you’ve posted an
outfit on social media it can’t be posted again because it’s now
too old – the likes and comments stop rolling in.
Fast fashion enables Gen Z to
switch up their style regularly,
cheaply and quickly.
If you search #OOTD on Instagram, which stands for
outfit of the day, it results in 312 million posts.
For young people, fashion is disposable.
6

It’s not surprising then, that
fast fashion has boomed in
recent years
2 in 5 have purchased
something on a fashion
website in the last month 2
Clothing production in the UK
has doubled since 2000 2
Online retailer’s such as Boohoo made
over £1 billion in revenue last year 3
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Source: Vice (2), Financial Times (3)

And brands are making their clothes more
readily available to Gen Z in a few ways…
2. Flexibility of payment
1. Slashing prices
Take Missguided’s infamous £1
bikini for example - it was a
loss-making promotional item
designed to draw Gen Z in.
Financial services like Klarna
and Clearpay are available on
fast fashion sites, giving cashstrapped
Gen Z the option to
buy more and pay back over a
period of time or pay later.
3. Convenience fashion
With many fast fashion retailers
offering next day delivery from
as little as £5.99 a year, Gen Z
can have almost instant access
to fashion. This is perfect for the
zero-effort generation.
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But fast fashion goes against
Gen Z’s core values
Despite the popularity of fast fashion, Gen Z are conscious of
its ethical impact. Backlash against the fast fashion industry is
growing as it clashes with Gen Z’s high concern for the
environment and the threat of climate change.
Gen Z’s most important political issues (Top 5) 4
Climate change
41%
Racism
Coronavirus
Healthcare
Economic inequality
Source: State of the Youth Nation (4), Refinery29 (5)
Simply doubling the length of time we keep
our clothes would cut emissions by 44% 5
9

Gen Z are increasingly holding brands
accountable to their ethics
Many Gen Zs want to buy from companies that align with
their ethical beliefs. We see from our data that it is
females in particular, who would prefer to purchase from
ethical companies despite also buying from fast fashion
companies.
I prefer to only buy products from companies that
I believe are acting ethically
FEMALES ONLY 6
37%
51%
Over
half
Of under 24s want to buy
from labels that are kinder to
the environment 7
2019 2020
10
Sources: State of the Youth Nation (6), The Guardian (7)

Although Gen Z know they have
options…
54%
of Gen Z feel bad about buying
fast fashion clothes 8
58%
of Gen Z say that money isn’t the issue
– they’re happy to pay more for
ethically sourced products 9
…they still buy fast fashion
Sources: Vice x Snapchat (8), State of the Youth Nation (9)

So, how to square the circle?

Sustainable Solutions
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Many fast fashion and high street brands are
offering responsible options
2. Recycling incentives
1. Sustainable lines
These give Gen Z the option to
shop responsibly yet still use
the same platforms/shops that
they like and are used to - like
ASOS and Zara for example.
Shops like H&M and Primark
have rolled out schemes to get
customers to bring in nolonger-worn
clothes for them
to recycle in return for
vouchers.
3. Sustainable first
New brands are making
sustainability a commitment to
all their clothes, providing
ethically sourced and
recyclable products, such as Gen
Z athleisure brand TALA.
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However, the ‘ethical’ attempts of some
brands have backfired with Gen Z
Greenwashing is when a company sells itself or its
products as good for the environment and eco-friendly,
however once you scratch beneath the surface it
becomes quite clear that this is marketing spin.
A third of Gen Z say their trust in
companies is at an all time low 10
This has increased by 6% since 2018
Gen Z’s scepticism of companies has fed into ‘Cancel Culture’ which is increasingly holding brands
accountable, in fact 83% would boycott a brand if they didn’t agree with their values 11. So, where does
this leave Gen Z and their shopping habits?
Sources: State of the Youth Nation (10), Voxburner (11)
15

Second-hand is a sustainable solution that is
affordable and provides Gen Z with unique pieces
Sustainable fashion lines are less affordable
than traditional fast fashion, and may just
push Gen Z back towards fast fashion.
Second-hand shopping provides Gen Z with a
middle ground between trying to be more
sustainable yet not breaking the bank.
12
It also still allows them to experiment with
their style, having rare, vintage or one-of-akind
items.
16
Sources: LSE (12)

In fact, young people have already begun
to drive the solution forward
They are the driving force of the growth of second-hand
shopping, adopting second-hand apparel 2.5x faster than
other age groups. 13
Given the choice, where would you prefer to shop?
Second-hand/charity shops 14
10%
16%
8%
of Gen Z currently buy most of
their belongings from
charity/second-hand shops 14
4%
6%
2015 2018 2019 2020
17
Sources: Forbes (13), State of the Youth Nation (14)

Thanks to innovative platforms, second-hand clothing has
been reinvented
Gone are the days of trawling dusty charity shop for clothes. Apps and online e-tailers like Depop,
Vestiaire and Vinted have overhauled the second-hand image, where cool clothes are easily accessible.
With over 15 million users worldwide, Depop has been
able to win over Gen Z by offering a place to buy and sell
that looks just like Instagram. It’s not just a marketplace,
it’s a community of creatives, with many sellers able to
make it their Depop shops their full time job.
Vestiaire Collective has established a platform for the
second-hand luxury market - a win-win for Gen Z, having
access to designer labels within a sustainable cycle
90% of Depop’s active
users are under 26 16
Vestiaire Collective’s
sales grew by 144% from
July 2019 to July 2020 15
18
Sources: Glossy (15), The Independent (16)

What does this tell us about Gen Z?
Gen Z are paradoxical – they have
conflicting wants and desires. In the
short term, they want easily accessible
unique pieces to wear and gain social
status. Yet in the longer term, they
want to help tackle climate change
For this generation, everything is
about easy access. Although
accessibility to second hand items
has improved using tech, e.g. Depop,
buying a whole outfit is not fast. Fast
fashion platforms on the other hand
are effortless.
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What does this tell us about Gen Z?
Second hand shopping delivers Gen
Z’s desire for brands and unique stuff.
The apps are usually peer-to-peer,
which makes them relevant and
cool. Yet to really make a change,
Gen Z need to reject the wear-it-once
culture which buying second hand
does not address directly.
Gen Z don’t follow the crowd - the
popularity of second hand shopping
and its unique pieces tells us that
they don’t want to look the same as
everyone else. They want to find their
own sense of style while at the same
time not standing out too much.
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Strategic Research & Programmes
Manager, The FA
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To find out more about how State of the Youth Nation could help
answer your business questions, get in touch at:
research@youthsight.com
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