One Man’s Trash is Love Island’s Treasure
In June this year we were blessed with Love Island’s 8th season hitting our screens, bringing with it daily episodes for 8 weeks straight from stunning Mallorca. In past years it was on-brand to find the contestants wearing fast fashion brands such as Boohoo (I Saw It First) and ASOS in conjunction with their own clothing items. But for the first time ever, Love Island announced a partnership with eBay. In an effort to move away from fast fashion, Love Island UK 2022 decided to dress its contestant in pre-loved clothing, all sourced from what is the world’s largest resell site.
But why, after 7 seasons, are Love Island “rocking the boat”, particularly given their historic, strong relationships with these big-name partners? Could it have something to do with them truly understanding who their viewers are? Or how influential the cast of the show are on how and where its viewers shop? Or maybe they’re looking after the continued success and longevity of the show as the next generation become just as obsessed as the last. (Some food for thought - In 2018, 80,000 hopefuls applied to appear on the show, while just 19,400 people applied to the University of Oxford that same year…)
If the past 2 years have shown us anything, it’s that the customer is using their wallet to prove a point - sustainability is the future, and if you’re not part of the solution then you’re clearly the problem. And it appears the second-hand e-commerce giant eBay, in partnership with Love Island, is sending a strong positive signal about prioritising sustainability over fast fashion, and their audience is here for it.
Following her success on the show, former contestant and Instagram Influencer, Molly Mae Hague, went on to become the Creative Director of fast fashion retailer, Pretty Little Thing. The move didn’t come completely out of the blue, Molly collaborated with the retailers on 3 collections prior to being promoted. Fans and activists alike are questioning whether she will use her position of power at PLT to push for more sustainable practices or equal pay for their workers after it was revealed in 2020 that Pretty Little Thing paid their Leicester workers £3.50 per hour, when the national Living Wage is currently £8.72. I’d say as the CD of a large womenswear brand, knowing your customer and what they stand for would be of the utmost importance, right?
Another strong connection to the industry comes in the form of former Love Island winner, Millie Court, who has worked at ASOS as a Buyers Administrator since 2018. In April this year she announced the release of her very own collection, ASOS DESIGN x Millie collection, comprising of more than 30 pieces as part of the brand’s ongoing partnership with the influencer. The brand deal is reported to be the biggest in Love Island’s history, believed to be in the low 7 figures. But is this another example of a retailer / influencer partnership not “reading the room”? This would have been such a great opportunity to have pushed into sustainability and recognise the changing customer and their habits.
Alright, back to the show. So, how does it work?
Celebrity stylist for stars including Dualipa and Sophie turner, Amy Bannerman was brought onboard to work with eBay and Love Island to incorporate pre-loved, sustainable clothing (minus swimwear, underwear, accessories, and shoes) into the islanders' wardrobes. Recently Bannerman spoke with GQ Magazine about the experience - “With eBay's overwhelming amount of product we decided to make things easier by coming up with four product categories that would make up the shared wardrobes in the villa. We had a press day with ITV (Owners of Love Island), which is where I met the 18 islanders and showed them some ideas for the clothes. The four themes are “Love Me Forever”, which comprises of pieces intended to be worn today or in 20 years, “Dopamine Dressing”, which boasts really colourful pieces, “Blurred Lines”, which is to do with gender-neutral dressing, and “Y2K”, which is pastel-heavy”. Through the use these themes and getting to know the contestants, she pulled together their wardrobes for the season with the ultimate aim of everyone sharing their pieces, regardless of their gender, plus changing the attitude of the viewer towards shopping second-hand. Bannerman goes onto say that “Already the response has been brilliant, and people are impressed that ITV has moved away from fast fashion sponsors. We also want to prove the worth of ‘trendless’ fashion - these aren't new products found in Zara and instead everything we have put in the villa was pre-loved. People have preconceptions of pre-loved, and I think we've managed to make the pieces we've sourced from eBay not look like the battered vintage items people are expecting to see. People will be surprised, which we all hope will encourage them to add pre-loved to their wardrobes too.”
What’s genius here is how viewers can shop each contestant’s ‘style edit’ through the dedicated eBay page. For example, if you’re interested in Paige’s wardrobe, you can purchase or bid on similar items to what she’s wearing OR you can bid on the actual clothing items worn by the cast where 100% of proceeds are going to Oxfam - brilliant!
In a recent report by thredUP, it was revealed that purchasing second-hand or pre-loved is becoming a global phenomenon, and it’s expected to grow 127% by 2026 - in fact, its growing 3X faster than the global apparel market overall. In the United States alone, 57% of consumers said they had resold apparel during 2021, and 50% of consumers who has not resold apparel said they were open to trying it, making the anticipated future sellers group approx. 195M people.
So, with 62% of US Gen Z and Millennials saying they look for an item second-hand before purchasing it new and the show hitting a whopping 5 million viewers for its opening episode, of which 61.6% were aged between 16 – 34, this is clearly a match made in heaven!