In June 2020, online luxury fashion retail platform Farfetch released Understanding the environmental savings of buying pre-owned fashion, the fruit of "initial" investigative research into the environmental benefits of buying previously owned clothing and accessories. Commissioned by Farfetch in partnership with QSA Partners, Icaro and London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB), the report considers displacement rates ("Does the purchase of a pre-owned fashion item replace the purchase of a new item?") and environmental impacts ("What are the average environmental impacts [carbon, water, waste] for fashion items and what would the environmental savings be if a consumer purchases a pre-owned item?"). An online fashion footprint tool launched on Farfetch's website at the same time, was intended to complement the report's findings and help users "see how they can help the planet" when making purchases of second-hand leather bags and five other product types. The tool is designed to draw from a combination of the report's displacement and environmental impact figures to calculate a number for carbon (measured in terms of "flight[s] from London to Paris"), water (or "six-person hot tub[s]") and waste ("average sized pineapple[s]"), for each product category. According to the tool, one pre-owned leather bag saves five kilograms of carbon (zero flights from London to Paris), four cubic-metres of water (the equivalent of three six-person hot tubs) and zero kilograms of waste (or nil average sized pineapples, according to Farfetch's fashion-forward metrics).
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