H&M is planning to sell secondhand clothing from its flagship London store.
The Swedish apparel retailer will debut its “Pre-Loved” collection of womenswear Oct. 5, the company said in a news release provided to PYMNTS Wednesday (Sept. 13).
The move comes as H&M and others in the fast-fashion space work to improve their record on sustainability.
“The opportunity to give a second life to garments brings real value to our customers and enables them to explore different ways of engaging in a circular fashion industry,” Henrik Nordvall, H&M’s country manager for the U.K. and Ireland, said in the release.
The global secondhand apparel market is expected to nearly double by 2027, from $177 billion last year to $351 billion in 2027, fueled largely by consumers looking for value, ThredUp, an online consignment and thrift store, said in a report.
“Resale is starting to blossom globally, with many of the largest retailers in the world adopting more circular business models,” ThredUp CEO James Reinhart said in April. “While value continues to be a key driver that motivates consumers to think secondhand first, global climate issues have increased awareness of resale’s potential to reduce fashion’s impact on the environment.”
ThredUp and H&M joined forces in March for an online version of the Pre-Loved store.
“We need to take responsibility for the impact fashion has on climate and the environment,” H&M North America Head of Sustainability Abigail Kammerzell said at the time. “Circular business models can help us reduce and limit this negative impact, while continuing to deliver fashion and style for our customers. With the launch of our first resale model in the U.S. market, we’re taking the next big step in that direction.”
Meanwhile, PYMNTS reported last month that several brands have begun launching repair and recycling services amid pressure to offer more sustainable products and services.
Zara and Uniqlo have both begun offering repairs, as has the H&M-owned Cos, which is collaborating with a startup to help customers fix damaged apparel.
H&M has also launched Close the Loop, an initiative that allows customers to bring their unwanted clothing to in-store recycling bins and receive a coupon for their next purchase. As of the spring, the project had collected more than 155,000 tons of textiles.
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It takes no small measure of optimism to launch a business.
Would-be business owners and entrepreneurs see a chance, as they navigate the application processes, to meet a need in the local community or establish a presence online that can cut across geographies.
Recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, released on Friday (Jan. 10), offer up what would be a sign of optimism in a few key sectors — notably, professional services and construction.
The latest data shows that business applications for tax IDs, adjusted for seasonal variation, reached 457,544 in December, marking an increase of 1.5% compared to November. This represents a de-acceleration from the seasonally adjusted increase in the month prior (a revised 5.7% gain) although it is still a positive indication given that it is only the fourth monthly increase in the whole of 2024.
Projected business formations, which are the estimates of new startups that will result from the applications, were 28,834, an increase of 2.6% compared to November. Projected formations stand 5.8% above the December 2023 level.
Drilling down a bit, retail applications were 79,000, down 9% from November’s levels. But for Business Services (13% of the tally) and Construction (10% of applications), there was positive momentum.
Together with business applications, the bureau also provides projections on the likelihood that a business application turns into an employer business and the consequent number of startups that will derive from these applications. This forecast results in a potential 28,834 business for the year 2025, 2.6% more than forecasted in November.
Professional Services “potential” businesses were up a positive 4.6%. Construction, among the same metric, saw a 3.2% boost.
The read across here is that consumer demand for these businesses — think, for example, of tax services, law firms, design companies and home contractors, including plumbers and painters.
It takes time to get a business up and running. And it takes capital to hire staff, make payroll, purchase or rent the premises in which the small business will operate and buy inventory. Concurrently, while all that is going on, there’s the need and hope to be paid in a timely manner.
In PYMNTS Intelligence data from November, we found that most SMBs do not have access to credit cards. Just 37% have access to any credit cards, with 32% having access to business credit cards. In other words, roughly 5% of Main Street SMBs have to rely exclusively on personal credit cards to fund their business.
The disparity is even more stark between higher- and lower-revenue SMBs. Among firms generating $1 million or more in revenue annually, nearly half have access to credit cards. But a relatively meager 25% of those with annual revenues of $150,000 or less say the same.
Separate PYMNTS Intelligence has noted in past research that for the construction sector especially, that late payments can be a challenge and eventually an existential threat. We’ve found that almost all firms in that sector have been plagued by late payments, and project delays and canceled contracts are just some of the consequences of payment problems.
In the U.S. alone, slow payments in the construction sector have caused a staggering financial impact of $280 billion last year. The data showed that 98% of general contractors reported an increased reliance on personal savings, credit cards and even retirement funds to keep their firms going while grappling with late payments.
Instant payments availability would help smooth those cash flows. As PYMNTS reported on Monday (Jan. 6), construction management platform Knowify announced its integration with Intuit’s suite of financial products for growing businesses, Intuit Enterprise Suite. The integration will provide construction businesses with a single, unified platform through which firms can manage operations, finances and accounting.