Why Ebay is showing secondhand fashion on the runway

Showing secondhand fashion as something aspirational, in a forum usually reserved for the industry’s upper echelons, is a significant move, says sustainability consultant Francois Souchet. “Pop culture is critical in normalising new behaviours and broadening the reach and appeal of secondhand,” he explains.

But whether this promotes sustainable behaviours depends on how Ebay tempers this growth. “Platforms should be careful about not creating perverse incentives that fuel overconsumption — we often see circular models being used to fuel linear growth,” cautions Souchet. In other words, shopping secondhand can only be considered sustainable when it displaces new purchases and decouples revenue growth from new material use. Otherwise, it’s simply replacing one form of overconsumption with another.

“Forty per cent of Gen Z consumers tell us they want to shop pre-loved,” says Keoghan, noting that Ebay doesn’t track displacement rates, which can be difficult to quantify accurately. “We want to make it much more accessible for people to do that, and shine a light on the huge archive of amazing designer and non-designer pieces listed on Ebay. It’s important for us to bring pre-loved to fashion week so it’s not sidelined and separate. It shows that secondhand and circularity can be more integrated in the brand story.”

Pre-loved and refurbished items currently make up 40 per cent of Ebay’s gross merchandise volume globally, and Souchet says monitoring this over time while trying to grow the percentage of secondhand goods could be a solid indicator for actual environmental impact.

Where it fits into Ebay’s broader goals

Bannerman’s role is to bridge the gap between Ebay and the fashion industry, finding opportunities to elevate the Ebay brand and insert pre-loved fashion into the mainstream. This includes building a showroom for stylists and celebrities to pull from, sourcing for activations like Endless Runway, and working with influencers. When content creator and Substack blogger Lucy Williams posted about her wardrobe being like Carrie Bradshaw’s without the Manolo Blahnik heels, for example, Bannerman reached out and offered to source her a pair.

Eventually, Bannerman would like to see Ebay credited in magazine editorials alongside brands producing new garments, and established brands using Ebay to pull their own archival looks to style alongside current pieces in fashion shows. “My dream is for pre-loved to be normalised in luxury, just like it has been in the fast fashion space,” she says.