Zalando
How to make the old new
The average adult in the EU owns 120+ clothes. Almost 20% of them are worn just once — if at all.
Perfectly good clothes forgotten at the back of cupboards. Only to end up in landfills leeching microplastics into the earth.
It’s much, much better to buy pre-owned clothes. But lecturing people about it doesn’t work.
We had to make people believe it was a good idea. A better deal than buying new.
Used. Pre-owned. Almost new.
Zalando only accepted pre-owned clothes that were in ‘like-new condition’.
‘Like-new’ sounded better than used, or pre-owned, which evokes a beat-up 2008 Toyota Camry.
Better yet, why not ‘almost new?’ Still accurate, but much more enticing.
We also asked the sellers why they were selling these items. The answers gave us stories behind the clothes.
Stories about why they were special, high value and often untouched.
Combined with brands and prices, buying ‘almost new’ suddenly felt like a no-brainer.
