LEVI’S LAUNCHES ‘SECONDHAND’ PROGRAM

On October 6th, the Levi’s brand is launching its “SecondHand” initiative in the U.S. as a part of the company’s larger commitment to making fashion sustainable and circular. This will be the first-of-its-kind buy-back program for a global denim brand, enabling customers to purchase second-hand jeans and jackets on levi.com while also allowing customers to turn in their worn jeans and jackets (in Levi’s stores) for a gift card towards a future purchase.

How will this work? Levi’s stores will offer $15 – $25 for denim that can be resold and $30 – $35 for vintage denim. If your Levi’s denim is too worn out, the company will still offer $5 towards a future purchase. All of these SecondHand items will then be available on the SecondHand marketplace, at affordable prices, ranging from roughly $30 – $100, making Levi’s accessible to a wider base of consumers. The brand is taking the first steps in making SecondHand denim second nature, in hopes that it will inspire more denim labels to introduce a similar offering.

“Repurposing and repairing clothes requires minimal additional energy input, no water, and no dyes to make more jeans,” said Jennifer Sey, chief marketing officer at Levi’s. “Buying a used pair of Levi’s jeans through SecondHand saves approximately 80 percent of the CO2 emissions and 700 grams of waste compared to buying a new pair of Levi’s jeans.”

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While Levi’s says that it is excited to partner with emerging technologies to recycle more of its denim in the manufacturing process, such as the recent Wellthread Recycled Denim collection launched in partnership with re:newcell, the brand is also looking to give previously loved Levi’s jeans and jackets a second life.

The brand has partnered with recommerce technology and logistics start-up company Trove to handle the backend operations of Levi’s SecondHand resale platform including cleaning, inventory processing, and fulfillment. As the brand moves towards a circular supply chain, Trove gives its consumers an opportunity to participate in the circular fashion economy.

“Getting more use out of existing products is the single biggest move we can make toward a more circular and sustainable supply chain,” added Andy Ruben, founder and CEO Trove.