H&M’s Cos Brand Launches Clothing Resale Platform

(Photo Credit: Cos)

The H&M brand Cos is launching a digital clothing resale platform in the United Kingdom and Germany. Called Resell, the site lets consumers buy and sell “preloved” Cos clothing online.

London-based fashion brand Cos, which sells apparel for women, men, and children, said that Resell reinforces their goal of becoming fully circular and renewable by reimagining each piece of clothing’s lifecycle.

“The community-curated online selection will provide peers the opportunity to sell old favorites and shop new pieces from the brand’s archive, spanning the last 13 years,” according to the company.

Although the platform is only available in the UK and Germany to start, Cos plans to make it global this fall. The brand joins a growing number of other apparel companies pursuing recommerce as a sustainability strategy. VF Corporation, for example, has been ramping up rental and resale initiatives for owned brands such as the North Face and Kipling.

Resale sites such as the RealReal have seen increased attention in recent years, but a brand starting its own recommerce platform remains unique, Rachel Cernansky reported in Vogue Business. Leslie Harwell, managing partner of Alante Capital, told the news outlet that when a brand endorses the resale concept, it could help them reach more consumers and build brand loyalty.

In order for a recommerce model to work, the clothing needs to be durable. The North Face addressed this for their recommerce site Renewed by arranging for all the items to be professionally cleaned, repaired, and quality checked prior to being sold online.

“Designing for longevity could have an added benefit,” Cernansky wrote. “If brands produce more classic garments and aren’t rushing to meet the tight deadlines inherent to seasonal releases, they can give suppliers more time to fill orders. That could remove one of the key causes of recent labor violations and poor working conditions.”