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Secondhand luxury retailer launches game-changing boot camp for influencers: 'We don't want to push them'

"Our focus is really to have an impact on the long term."

"Our focus is really to have an impact on the long term."

Photo Credit: Vestiaire Collective

Secondhand designer retailer Vestiaire Collective is revolutionizing the influencer-marketing element of its brand awareness campaigns. Instead of paying influencers who already align with its brand's mission of sustainability, Vestiaire is partnering with influencers who often promote fast-fashion brands and is offering a six-month educational program.

The influencers' contract requires three posts during the program, which started last November; however, the content is not the Collective's highest priority. 

"We don't want to push them to advertise the program," Dounia Wone, Vestiaire Collective's chief impact officer, told Marketing Brew. "We want them to land somewhere where they will be the change, so our focus is really to have an impact on the long term for them."

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Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

The six-month program includes masterclasses with sustainability experts and discussions with influencers who have already made the shift away from fast fashion. The program concludes with a trip to a clothing landfill so the influencers can be presented with the reality of fast fashion's impact.

One of Vestiaire Collective's influencer choices for this program was Yewande Biala, who has almost 630,000 followers on Instagram. In her ad, she wrote, "Ever stare at a closet full of clothes and think, 'I've got nothing to wear'? Same. Fast fashion had me in a cycle of overbuying, but I'm trying to change that by teaming up with @vestiaireco to show you and myself how pre-loved fashion = better for your wardrobe and the planet." 

A supportive commenter responded with: "Yess!! Pre-loved fashion is the way to go!"

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Like with any movement with a little momentum, it can be surprising how quickly the world can change. Vestiaire Collective is hoping that this campaign will encourage shoppers to purchase less from fashion giants and to have brands transition to sustainable practices. The rise of sustainability in fashion is already causing roadblocks for Shein to be listed on the stock exchange, and there will be an inaugural sustainable fashion conference in Dubai this February called Fashion Futures Dubai.

While Vestiaire Collective's goal is to encourage fast-fashion influencers to promote sustainability and eventually cut ties with fast-fashion brands, it knows that that might come with a customer backlash. 

"It takes a long time to change consumer behavior at large, but it's also our mission," Wone told Marketing Brew. "We all know that what we are going through today in the fashion industry is not sustainable forever."

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