Circular Luxury Helps to Create a More Ethical Wardrobe
Many people are taking up the sustainable fashion movement’s call to “buy less, buy better”, cutting their clothing consumption and investing in more circular models. According to research from the Hot Or Cool Institute, a Berlin-based think tank studying the intersection of sustainability and society, to limit global temperatures from rising more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – and thus mitigate the worst impacts of climate change – we need to cut the annual carbon emissions generated by our wardrobes to 128.7kg. In the UK, that means we should be buying no more than nine new garments a year. In other parts of the G20, where the average emissions generated by a single garment is higher, the number of garments is five.
That will require a significant lifestyle shift since the average UK shopper is on track to buying 27 new items a year by 2030. What if you could make a positive impact without limiting your purchases to 5 garments?
What if you could limit the fashion items you purchase each year to five but still have the wardrobe of your dreams?
That’s why co-owning is pure genius! As part of our Circular Luxury Club, you can co-own luxury goods and you can loan to and borrow from other club members. Instead of purchasing five items you can purchase shares in 25 or do a combination of owning, co-owning and borrowing. This way you can wear all the pieces you want and still limit my impact to just five.
We at Covett x Front Row believe our model is expansive instead of expensive. Instead of purchasing 5 items, you can share close to 25. While there are some impacts to sharing, they are totally outweigh by the vast benefits. Consider our model allows five people to invest in each item of luxury clothing, designer bags and fine jewellery. Driving up the utilisation is one of the tenets of circularity, (while these do come with extra costs of cleaning and logistics) the benefits of our model, is we maintain the pieces to extend their lives while allowing our members to further monetise their shares by lending them to other members when they aren’t using their share and selling their share on our platform. Since we do all the cleaning and maintenance, the items are kept in pristine condition, allowing their value and desirability to be retained.
I’d like to share an example that can help illustrate the benefits. Maya, is 33 and works in high tech software. She loves luxury goods, particularly designer bags and fine jewellery
Wants to be able to invest in pieces, but has limited budget due to family expenses. She has been normally buys via resale, to lower the investment and because she feels she is being a more conscious consumer.
She recently invested in a Trenchcoat from Burberry and a pair of Loewe jeans because she will use them every day. Let’s say she wanted to stay within the 5 new piece limit.
Currently with Covett x Front Row you can use a combination of co-ownership and rental to create a capsule collection for this year. Because you are co-owning some of the goods you will use more often your cost of use goes down considerably but by augmenting with rental you can actually add more items to the mix.
Here are the pieces Maya has selected.
Top Row: Gucci GG Bouclé-Tweed Coat, Lady Dior Red Patent Bag, Gucci Queen Margaret Slides from Front Row, Valentino Playsuit from Front Row, Baunat E’toile Collection Diamond Flower Earrings, Miu Miu Iconic Crystal Cloqué Nappa Leather Bag, Amina Muadi Begum Crystal PVC Pumps and Talbot Ruhnoff V Neck Jacquard Dress both from Front Row.
Bottom Row: Jacquemus Logo Ribbed Cardigan, Valentino Boucle Crop Top and Shorts, and Bottega Veneta Slides all from Front Row, Bottega Veneta Mini Jodie bag in Black, Theo Fennell Salamder Fire Opal Earrings, Lady Dior Pumps and Valentino Little Red dress both from Front Row
Maya could never afford to purchase all of these items in the traditional way. Not to mention the upkeep and storage. She can now consciously expand her wardrobe and save money at the same time.
And there is even better news, later this year we will expand our Circular Luxury Club to include more items including dresses, evening wear and shoes.
What we love about the club, is that members can share amongst their community at a lower fee than if she were to rent it. Best of all our items are loved and respected by our community, who makes sure, with our help, that each time an item is passed on to another member, it’s in pristine condition.
When it comes to having a more circular luxury wardrobe we believe our Circular Luxury Club will be the one stop shop for the luxury items you want to share or resell. We believe items worn almost every day should be purchased, taken good care of and resold. Even better when purchased pre-loved.
