To be fair a Corolla is a dope car. Shout out to all the uncles putting in work on the deep auto recon. The nerd-ing out potential is adjacent to clothes. However, in this uncle’s case, the car gaze can be fleeting, but for the garments it is eternal.
Need a whole piece on hobbies becoming mandatory money-making missions. The problem with craft as capitalism is that to drive the sales you need the brand which demands a story. Like those Balvenie YouTube’s with Bourdain. Those artisans who care more about the craft than capital have stronger brands, which drive the capital. Help me extrapolate this.
I find that buying clothes with resale value in mind leads to bad and boring style when done right. You're forced to buy around the tastes, knowledge, and lifestyle of the average consumer, which almost always means dumbing things down to safe styles and obvious brands like Gucci or Yeezy Gap. I would rather lose money on wearing cool shit from brands my coworkers have never heard of than be stuck in a rotating array of hypebeast gear only.
Kind of shocking that the Harvard Business Review basically says the quiet part out loud - that capitalist profit can only exist when the "giving back" (or regenerating) component of humans' metabolic relationship with nature is removed
This was excellent, thank you! I just read a sponsored newsletter about this platform and really found it annoying and your post perfectly articulates why. Initially I thought, oh another Silicon Valley “fashion” idea where they actually think it’s innovative (LOL remember stitch fix?) but I see the founder is ex KKR so the “portfolio” analogy you draw makes sense. More PE than VC. One thing people don’t appreciate about these browser plugins is that the real business model is all the data they scrape from all your browsing as they track all your internet browsing. Never download a plug in.
I know a lot of people think the “circular” economy gives them a get out of jail free card but excessive rotation of your closet (purge,buy, purge, buy) even if piped into resale is bad. And I agree, all this velocity makes for poor style.
Another great BBSP piece on something that I am currently thinking about but having a hard time articulating!!
One thing Jonah talks about here that I think deserves its own conversation is how the Harvard Business Review gives the game away. HBR clearly lays out marketing techniques about how companies get you to part with your money. Meanwhile, these companies lobby to disclose as little as possible. There is a wealth of knowledge available in free-to-access research papers in which corporate funded academics clearly explain how bad faith multinational corporations can make as much money as possible from you. They are shockingly concise and in plain English, lacking corporate buzzwords that these same corporations include in their marketing to greenwash their actions. HBR is for the exec who is optimizing the supply chain or founder who is spinning this cursed system into a startup that is actually helping you, and it’s a great viewpoint underneath the hood to empower yourself as a consumer!
Loved this piece, everything is so spot-on! I cringed when I read ~fashion fintech startup who shall not be named~'s claims of "circularity".
FYI I was recently researching overproduction volumes too and the best numbers I could find were:
- The number of garments produced annually has doubled since 2000 and exceeded 100 billion for the first time in 2014 (McKinsey).
- The value of excess inventory held by luxury fashion’s biggest groups has grown to billions of dollars over the last decade, reaching €3.2 billion at LVMH and €1.5 billion at Kering last year (Business of Fashion).
I like the suggestion to give things to friends (if they would like them) or donate. Otherwise if you are selling give a really good deal! Lose money! It’s not a stock. eBay used to be a bunch of people doing this. Now there are way more professional resellers. My only worry with this is maybe I’m selling to a reseller but I can’t really control that online. If the idea of resale value is factoring into your decision to buy, maybe you don’t actually like the clothes that much.
I’m a big shopper. Not proud of that but always loved beauty in all forms (especially ugly beauty). I am focused on fragrance lately, especially because I just embiggened (health stuff) so I got a lot of new clothes which was fun. Selling my old stuff on RealReal, while somewhat relieving, definitely felt like hugging the Capitalist devil. Thanks for this.
loved the bit in this about monetizing your hobbies -- one of the worst things Millennials did/let happen. somehow between the fleas and craftaculars of the 2010s the idea that you *could* make money with your crafts, which was surprising and cool, turned into the idea that you basically *had* to make money off your crafts, which is oppressive and capitalist. Just let me make my dumb little things and not feel guilty i don't have a social media marketing strategy for them.
Non second hand resell, streetwear/sneakers, is cooked as well. Nike continues to pump out excessive amounts of shoes of popular (once very hype) models of Jordans and Dunks in response to what was this massive resale market for them. Now there’s tons of these shoes that are going for below retail and just kinda filling up space. I believe people should be able to buy the sneakers that they want but the excessive supply now makes them wack in the eyes of the culture. Or at least what can be described as the culture deriving from copping and reselling sneakers. Same thing happened with Yeezy a bit earlier, massive amounts of supply, and a little bit of Kanye himself, tanking the perceived value.
Obviously in response to new trends and this aforementioned excess other brands are in the spotlight such as ASICS, New Balance, Etc but the overall sneaker resale landscape is not what it was.
I’m always amazed by the insanely high cost of *some* resale small label fashion on Grailed. And I wondered if some of it was people buying on sale or at employee discount then reselling it at full or close to full price, as some sort of investment strategy. I try hard not to hate the player, and focus on the game they’ve gotta play to subsist. But it’s just off putting sometimes.
That definitely does happen in the space. Part of it is a retailer needing to move SKUs. It happens in the sneaker market where the retailer offloads hyper product onto the second hand market to be able to afford rent.
To be fair a Corolla is a dope car. Shout out to all the uncles putting in work on the deep auto recon. The nerd-ing out potential is adjacent to clothes. However, in this uncle’s case, the car gaze can be fleeting, but for the garments it is eternal.
Hahaha
We had an ‘81 Corolla Tercel hatchback for part of my childhood and I might concede that 80s corollas are dope but that’s a bold claim otherwise 😂
Need a whole piece on hobbies becoming mandatory money-making missions. The problem with craft as capitalism is that to drive the sales you need the brand which demands a story. Like those Balvenie YouTube’s with Bourdain. Those artisans who care more about the craft than capital have stronger brands, which drive the capital. Help me extrapolate this.
Something here for sure!
I find that buying clothes with resale value in mind leads to bad and boring style when done right. You're forced to buy around the tastes, knowledge, and lifestyle of the average consumer, which almost always means dumbing things down to safe styles and obvious brands like Gucci or Yeezy Gap. I would rather lose money on wearing cool shit from brands my coworkers have never heard of than be stuck in a rotating array of hypebeast gear only.
1000% ! Well put
Great post. It reminded me of the theory of the metabolic rift (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_rift)
Kind of shocking that the Harvard Business Review basically says the quiet part out loud - that capitalist profit can only exist when the "giving back" (or regenerating) component of humans' metabolic relationship with nature is removed
Whoa cool, yes, definitely germane!
This was excellent, thank you! I just read a sponsored newsletter about this platform and really found it annoying and your post perfectly articulates why. Initially I thought, oh another Silicon Valley “fashion” idea where they actually think it’s innovative (LOL remember stitch fix?) but I see the founder is ex KKR so the “portfolio” analogy you draw makes sense. More PE than VC. One thing people don’t appreciate about these browser plugins is that the real business model is all the data they scrape from all your browsing as they track all your internet browsing. Never download a plug in.
I know a lot of people think the “circular” economy gives them a get out of jail free card but excessive rotation of your closet (purge,buy, purge, buy) even if piped into resale is bad. And I agree, all this velocity makes for poor style.
💯
Very curious to hear thoughts on J Crew's "in-house" "vintage" program--in my view, it feels like they're still parsing what they want to do with it but regardless feels related to the thoughts shared in this BBSP. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/j-crew-brand-launches-resale-program-offer-vintage-styles-2023-01-17/
Another great BBSP piece on something that I am currently thinking about but having a hard time articulating!!
One thing Jonah talks about here that I think deserves its own conversation is how the Harvard Business Review gives the game away. HBR clearly lays out marketing techniques about how companies get you to part with your money. Meanwhile, these companies lobby to disclose as little as possible. There is a wealth of knowledge available in free-to-access research papers in which corporate funded academics clearly explain how bad faith multinational corporations can make as much money as possible from you. They are shockingly concise and in plain English, lacking corporate buzzwords that these same corporations include in their marketing to greenwash their actions. HBR is for the exec who is optimizing the supply chain or founder who is spinning this cursed system into a startup that is actually helping you, and it’s a great viewpoint underneath the hood to empower yourself as a consumer!
Big time
Was the record label in question Giegling by chance? Uber curious...
I’ll have to ask him again
Loved this piece, everything is so spot-on! I cringed when I read ~fashion fintech startup who shall not be named~'s claims of "circularity".
FYI I was recently researching overproduction volumes too and the best numbers I could find were:
- The number of garments produced annually has doubled since 2000 and exceeded 100 billion for the first time in 2014 (McKinsey).
- The value of excess inventory held by luxury fashion’s biggest groups has grown to billions of dollars over the last decade, reaching €3.2 billion at LVMH and €1.5 billion at Kering last year (Business of Fashion).
So gross...
Mad gross
I like the suggestion to give things to friends (if they would like them) or donate. Otherwise if you are selling give a really good deal! Lose money! It’s not a stock. eBay used to be a bunch of people doing this. Now there are way more professional resellers. My only worry with this is maybe I’m selling to a reseller but I can’t really control that online. If the idea of resale value is factoring into your decision to buy, maybe you don’t actually like the clothes that much.
word up !
Brilliant article. Brilliant research!
I’m a big shopper. Not proud of that but always loved beauty in all forms (especially ugly beauty). I am focused on fragrance lately, especially because I just embiggened (health stuff) so I got a lot of new clothes which was fun. Selling my old stuff on RealReal, while somewhat relieving, definitely felt like hugging the Capitalist devil. Thanks for this.
loved the bit in this about monetizing your hobbies -- one of the worst things Millennials did/let happen. somehow between the fleas and craftaculars of the 2010s the idea that you *could* make money with your crafts, which was surprising and cool, turned into the idea that you basically *had* to make money off your crafts, which is oppressive and capitalist. Just let me make my dumb little things and not feel guilty i don't have a social media marketing strategy for them.
What a great piece. My boy speaks the Truth! With thanks for your work : )
Non second hand resell, streetwear/sneakers, is cooked as well. Nike continues to pump out excessive amounts of shoes of popular (once very hype) models of Jordans and Dunks in response to what was this massive resale market for them. Now there’s tons of these shoes that are going for below retail and just kinda filling up space. I believe people should be able to buy the sneakers that they want but the excessive supply now makes them wack in the eyes of the culture. Or at least what can be described as the culture deriving from copping and reselling sneakers. Same thing happened with Yeezy a bit earlier, massive amounts of supply, and a little bit of Kanye himself, tanking the perceived value.
Obviously in response to new trends and this aforementioned excess other brands are in the spotlight such as ASICS, New Balance, Etc but the overall sneaker resale landscape is not what it was.
I’m always amazed by the insanely high cost of *some* resale small label fashion on Grailed. And I wondered if some of it was people buying on sale or at employee discount then reselling it at full or close to full price, as some sort of investment strategy. I try hard not to hate the player, and focus on the game they’ve gotta play to subsist. But it’s just off putting sometimes.
That definitely does happen in the space. Part of it is a retailer needing to move SKUs. It happens in the sneaker market where the retailer offloads hyper product onto the second hand market to be able to afford rent.