Being more environmentally-friendly key for UK consumers

Despite ongoing concerns about the economy and the cost of living, it appears a sizeable majority of Britons are tuned into the need to be more environmentally-friendly, and certainly when it comes to fashion.

Indeed, 70% of UK consumers recognise the financial benefits of circular practices in fashion, such as repair, secondhand shopping and rentals, according to Buy-Now-Pay-Later specialist Klarna’s ‘2024 Circularity Insights’ report.

However, the report does show there’s still a “notable gap” between attitudes and actual behaviour, “with barriers like convenience, feasibility and cost hindering widespread adoption of these practices”.

At least that 70% figure is from those who acknowledge that secondhand shopping, repairs, or rental services have been or could be cost-effective for them. Repairing items is seen as the biggest cost-saving opportunity (44%), followed by secondhand shopping (39%) and rentals (20%).

But looking at repair, implementation is still in its “growth phase” and despite its perceived money-saving potential, 77% of consumers choose not to repair clothing items when needed, and 87% feel the same for shoes and accessories.

“This disconnect presents a substantial opportunity for brands and businesses to encourage and facilitate repair options”, the report noted.

Meanwhile, 33% of consumers have welcomed secondhand clothing items into their wardrobes over the past year. But once again, there’s a significant opportunity for further adoption, as 67% of consumers opted for only new items when shopping for clothes in the period.

The main hurdles in adopting circular practices differ across sectors. In fashion, the top barriers to repairing items are convenience (30%), feasibility (28%), utility (26%), and cost (20%). Depreciation also hinders secondhand shopping, with 21% of consumers citing low clothing resale value.

And under the section ‘Is keeping the old the next new thing?’ some 41% said they now evaluate how often they’re going to wear an item before purchase and 66% believe that wearing the same outfit several times is now less of a taboo than it was several years ago.