Love Island, one of the UK’s most watched TV shows hoped to break its symbiotic relationship with fast fashion by partnering with eBay as its fashion partner for 2022. The aim was to inspire the UK to choose preloved by making it aspirational, resulting in a 700% increase in searches for preloved fashion on eBay.  

Hit reality UK-based TV show Love Island has faced criticism for encouraging a throwaway culture of fast-fashion items. In 2018, fast-fashion retailer Missguided was the show’s exclusive fashion partner, fans could shop looks worn by contestants directly through the Love Island app, boosting Misguided sales by 40% compared to the two prior months. In the show, cast members are delivered duffel bags full of clothes every three or four days, encouraging a wear-once culture. Many of the cast members sign up to the show to launch an influencer career, often receiving brand deals from fast-fashion brands. 

eBay was announced as the first pre-loved fashion partner for the 2022 series. Choosing to reflect the growing popularity of sustainable fashion, Love Island and eBay hoped the partnership would inspire the UK to choose preloved first when shopping, by giving visibility to more responsible consumption. Contestants were allowed to bring their own clothes, but also had a curation of eBay secondhand and vintage items to choose from. The secondhand products were chosen across all price points, from an £8 bomber jacket up to a Hervé Léger dress for £380. 

At the halfway point of the hugely popular show, eBay reported 700% more searches for pre-loved fashion and an increase of 935% of mentions of pre-loved fashion across all platforms in comparison to the same period in 2021. For eBay, this was seen as a success, inspiring more sustainable behaviour change and helping make sustainability aspirational. Tasha Ghouri, who finished fourth was announced as eBay’s first ever Pre-Loved Ambassador and the first non-fast fashion brand partnership to result from the series.

Image by Dom Hill from Unsplash