Understanding Indian Consumers and Secondhand Clothing: Report Launch

India’s textile and apparel sector is economically and socially significant, contributing to the country’s GDP, exports, and employment. In 2018–19, it contributed 2 percent to the GDP and employed more than 45 million people (IBEF 2020). Currently, India is in a unique position of being both an apparel-producing hub as well as a major consumption market. While India’s per capita consumption of apparel has been lower than other countries, it is steadily rising, and India is poised to be the world’s sixth largest apparel market by 2022.

The textile and apparel sector requires large amounts of non-renewable resource inputs. Clothing reuse business models – like repair, rental, and second-hand/pre-owned - are a way to cater to growing consumer demands while reducing reliance on virgin resources and also reducing waste.

This requires a good understanding of consumer motivations, attitudes and behaviour towards reuse models, but most of our current consumer research comes from western countries. To bridge this gap, WRI India, as part of its joint initiative with WRI and WRAP, supported by Laudes Foundation – Clothing Reuse Market Makers Project – engaged with India’s leading apparel brands, manufacturers, and start-ups to increase the uptake of clothing reuse business models.

WRI India’s new report titled “Second-hand Shopping: Understanding Consumer Behaviour toward Pre-owned Clothing in India” will be launched by Ms Darshana Jardosh, Minister of State for Railways & Textiles and Lok Sabha MP, Surat. Report findings will be shared throwing light upon key questions around consumer motivation and behavior toward shopping secondhand clothing in India. This will be followed by panel discussion. The event will convene relevant stakeholders in the fashion and apparel industry such as brands, manufacturers, start-ups, and ecosystem enablers.

SPEAKERS

• Darshana Jardosh, Minister of State for Railways & Textiles and Lok Sabha MP, Surat
• Dr OP Agarwal, CEO, WRI India
• Dr Rachna Arora, Team Leader, European Union-Resource Efficiency Initiative (EU-REI)
• Somatish Banerji, Associate Vice President, Intellecap
• Nohar Nath, Founder & CEO, Kiabza
• Ranjeeb Sarma, Head of Compliance, CSR, Plan A India & Sri Lanka region, Marks & Spencer India Pvt Ltd.
• Butool Jamal, Fashion Editor, Tata CLiQ (Moderator)