Making second-hand sexy

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2022

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Can apps like Depop and By Rotation, which are giving new life to old clothes, help reduce the fashion industry's enormous environmental footprint?

Justin Rowlatt heads to the London offices of both these online platforms. Depop's Justine Porterie explains how their clothing resale app helped Gen Z take back control of their wardrobes and fall in love with second-hand clothes. Meanwhile Eshita Kabra-Davies, founder of By Rotation, retells how she came up with the concept of a high fashion rental app after seeing all the discarded garments piling up in her hometown in Rajasthan.

These apps have grown enormously during the last two years of lockdowns, attracting millions of users, particularly teenagers. But Sarah Kent, editor at the Business of Fashion website, questions whether they can really make a dent in the sheer volume of clothes produced and disposed of every year.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Someone photographing a sweater for sale online; Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, welcome to Business Daily on the BBC World Service. I'm Justin Rowlat.
0:06.6	Coming up, what to do with the mountains of old clothes churned out by the global fashion industry.
0:13.8	Billions of garments are being produced every year. Billions. Like, we have enough to dress ourselves
0:20.2	for a number of generations ahead.
0:23.3	But for the latest generation of fashion addicts, could the solution be to buy or rent secondhand
0:29.9	clothes online? You know, you can save money, you can make money, you can save the planet,
0:35.3	and you can still look fabulous and make you friends at the same time.
0:38.5	Dedicated followers of secondhand fashion here on Business Daily from the BBC.
0:48.7	Are you recording already? Yeah. So you were recording that little interaction?
0:52.3	No. Meet my daughter, Zola.
0:54.7	So when did you start recording?
0:55.8	Just when you said pick up your phone.
0:57.1	Oh, okay.
0:58.7	She's 19 and studying English literature in Glasgow.
1:02.1	So stop recording and start again.
1:03.4	Just please, no, don't.
1:04.7	Which is why we're speaking via Zoom.
1:07.2	Okay, the recording's on, let's go.
1:09.5	Hi, yeah.
1:10.6	Hey, Zolala. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. How are you?
1:14.0	Yeah, very good. How's uni? Uni's good, yeah. Anyway, I've called her to ask about an app she's using.
1:20.4	Now, listen, tell me about Deepak, because you've been doing it for a while, haven't you? When did you start?
	...

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