A look back at fashion in 2019: Rental, second-hand, gaming and inclusivity
December is the time to reflect on the past year and look towards the
upcoming one. In this article FashionUnited looks at four trends that have
taken over fashion in 2019: clothing rental, second-hand fashion, gaming
and inclusivity.
Clothing rental
From a basic T-shirt, to a luxury cocktail dress, many brands are . According to
research firm GlobalData, the market for clothing rental and/or
subscription services is growing: the research firm predicts that it will
grow from 1 billion dollars in 2018 to 2.5 billion dollars in 2023.
A new player to join the rental game in Europe is Spinning Closet, which
specialises in the lending of luxury labels such as Stella McCartney,
Zimmermann, Roland Mouret, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen. For an
average price of 100 euros, Spinning Closet rents out fashion items for
four to eight days to customers. The company has a showroom in Amsterdam
and in December will open various Spinning Closet pop-ups.
In Belgium, Closet in the Cloud launched in September ‘With a webshop
and pop-up shop in Ghent. Closet in the Cloud offers designer clothing from
A.F. Vandevorst, Julia June, Ba&sh and Nathalie Vleeschouwer for special
occasions. The first in Flanders,’ said founder Yasmine Mili to
FashionUnited. The temporary shop is open until 13 January. “After that we
are back with a physical location, because we notice that most women like
to fit,” says the founder.
Not only new start-ups, but also fashion brands like Gray Label and chains
like , and started renting out this year.
In H&M’s new flagship store in Stockholm, for example, customers can rent
items from the Conscious Exclusive collection.
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Second-hand fashion
In addition to rental, second-hand is also growing rapidly. More than ever
Americans are inclined to buy and sell second-hand fashion, the reseller
ThredUp reported in March. The second-hand fashion market has grown 21
times faster than retail in the past 3 years. ThredUp expects this segment
to grow further from 24 billion to 51 billion dollars (approximately 45
billion euros) in the next five years. The company predicts that by 2028
the second-hand market will be 1.5 times bigger than fast fashion, and will
account for 13 percent of the clothing in our closet.
In August, ThredUp raised 175 million dollars (equivalent to 157 million
euros), while received a capital
injection of 40 million euros. Earlier this year, The RealReal, a platform
for second-hand luxury, earned 300 million dollars with its IPO.
Traditional retailers are also following the trend: Zalando opened a pop-up
store for worn fashion items earlier this year, and H&M announced an
e-commerce trial of the sale of second-hand & Other Stories items.
.
Founded in Vilnius, Lithuania, by Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskas,
Vinted has been live in the US since 2010, and entered the UK earlier this
year. In November, the company raised another 128 million euros to invest
in ‘rapid growth in Europe’.
“Everyone rents clothes and offers them second hand,” said trend seminar in
October. “Keep up the good work, because that’s definitely the future.”
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Gaming’s influence on fashion
According to GlobalData, the gaming and e-sports industry is expected to
grow from 131 billion dollars (118 billion euros) in 2018 to 305 billion
dollars (274 billion euros) in 2025. The fashion industry has gotten wind
of this. A large number of fashion brands have taken steps in the digital
environment in recent months. In October, game. In addition, the
German sports fashion giant ‘8-BIT’ sold baseball shoes for 130 dollars
(117 euros) via its own retro game at Snapchat.
Luxury brands are also entering the gaming world. In doing so, they hope
to attract the attention of younger consumers, who are more than ever
looking for experimental ways to interact with fashion. Fashion houses
Louis Vuitton and Gucci released their own retro games last July. In
October, Burberry launched its very first online video game, called .
“The latest changes don’t take place through fashion itself, but through
gaming,” said trend forecaster David Shah.
Futurologist . “For Gen Z, gaming is a form of social media. They make
contact via Tinder and then meet each other on Fortnite. The world of
gaming is interwoven with visual culture. We already had virtual
influencers like Lil Miquela, but now there is a complete intersection of
gaming and beauty of fashion. The platform Dazed Beauty brings unexpected,
futuristic beauty reports with inspiration from cyberspace,” says
Greene.
Radical inclusiveness and diversity
What struck Flemish fashion expert Veerle Windels during the last fashion
week season in September was the inclusiveness: many brands hired plus-size
models and never before have so many dark girls walked on the catwalk. Or
boys, because gender fluidity is also important in fashion.
Diversity in all its forms will penetrate the world by 2020, Lucie
Greene predicts. The futurologist calls Universal Standard, the American
fashion brand that sells clothing from American sizes 4 to 40 (EU 34 to
70), a good example. Henning van Lauren Chan made formal clothing for work
situations that flatters every type of body. Sainsbury’s came up with an
atypical pregnancy and breastfeeding line and Tommy Hilfiger, with Tommy
Adaptive, focuses on consumers with a disability. In campaigns we also
increasingly see models with real skin conditions such as psoriasis, acne,
cellulite or stretch marks, according to Greene.
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The text in this article comes from previously published articles by
editors Marjorie van Elven, Huw Hughes, Katrien Huysentruyt and Angela
Gonzalez-Rodriguez. Selection and processing: Esmee Blaazer. Originally
published on FashionUnited.NL, translated and edited
Homepage image: Spinning Closet