Dive Brief:

• As resale gathers steam, luxury marketplace Farfetch on Wednesday announced a donation program for its U.S. shoppers, according to a company press release. The effort will be done through ThredUp's resale-as-a-service platform. 

• Clean out kits will be offered to Farfetch customers, which they fill with no longer wanted apparel, shoes and accessories. Items will then be given to Thredup up and, once a product is sold, at least 50% of the total payout will be donated to charity. Any remaining payout will be given as a Farfetch shopping credit. 

• The program extends the luxury retailer's previously established Farfetch Donate service, which was first launched in the U.K. in 2019.

Dive Insight:

Luxury fashion platform Farfetch is committed to being "more circular than linear" by 2030, which includes using circular services and selling more low-waste products. Tapping ThredUp to do back-end operations may be one way Farfetch is making good on those promises. 

The clean out kit is a cornerstone of ThredUp's own business model, where customers receive a bag that they fill up with gently used items. The resale company provides a shipping label and, after clothes are processed and eligible items sell, users receive a cash payout or receive shopping credit. About 40% of items meet ThredUp's quality standards, and standard processing times for clean out kits take up to eight weeks. 

Farfetch will offer its own branded clean out kits for the Farfetch Donate program. The luxury marketplace is ThredUp's first retail-as-a-service partner to use its white label offering "creating a fully customized resale experience tailored to the Farfetch brand and audience," according to the company. 

The resale market has exploded over the past few years, with ThredUp reporting that used apparel sales are projected to reach $77 billion in five years. Sixty percent of retailers said they have already offered or are open to resale, according to ThredUp.

"Resale is an inevitable part of fashion's evolution and is the next emerging channel for apparel retailers," James Reinhart, co-founder and CEO of ThredUp, said in a statement regarding Farfetch. 

ThredUp has partnered with a host of other retailers to offer secondhand fashion in stores, including J.C. Penney, Macy's, Madewell, Gap and Walmart.