Mark de Lange

Last week, I gave a keynote on how circularity can help the fashion industry to decouple revenue from virgin production, and in doing so, reduce emissions. My goal was to highlight real-world examples of major players who’ve not only piloted circular business models, but made them profitable and revenue-generating at scale. Here are two case studies I shared 👉 1️⃣ Case 1: Nuuly Urban Outfitters’ rental business, Nuuly, is currently growing up to 15x faster than the company’s traditional retail. It contributes 7% of URBN’s total revenue, and hit profitability in 2024. A big part of Nuuly’s success comes from low inventory costs: around half of its rental pieces come from in-house brands. This gives them a major cost advantage compared to players like Rent The Runway. On top of that, Nuuly has been able to build on the operational and logistics infrastructure that Urban Outfitters has developed since the 70s. (Shoutout to Ryan Atkins, whose post first brought these numbers to my attention and sparked my interest to dig deeper into the case!) 2️⃣ Case 2: Vinted Vinted became profitable in 2023 (€18M profit), and more than quadrupled profits in 2024 (€77M), while competitors like Vestiaire Collective and ThredUp still remain unprofitable. What’s behind Vinted’s success? CEO Thomas Plantenga credits it to a “relentless focus on cost control”, plus investing in in-house logistics and payments infrastructure, protecting already low margins in P2P solutions. (And here a shoutout to Rian Marais, whose deep-dive into Vinted helped surface a lot of these insights!) Both Nuuly and Vinted show that circular models like rental and resale can scale and be profitable. But alongside financial sustainability, we also need to keep measuring the actual impact of these models, like replacement rates and impact on clothing usage, to ensure we’re developing solutions that truly create positive change. Epicenter Helsinki #circularfashion #fashionresale #fashionrental #textilecircularity #circularbusinessmodel #circulartextiles Photo: VALORAMA Corporate Video & Photography

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Welcome to the Antler portfolio, Revazi! 🚀 We were shocked to learn that global fashion brands in Europe quietly dumped & incinerated >2 billion unsold inventory items last year - clothes that were brand new, never worn! Just to protect their home market & brand image... 💩👿 By working directly with these global fashion brands, Revazi sources excess production into Kenya, offering consumers new & carefully selected high quality clothing at "prices you'll love"! 👗😁 Revazi also challenges the existing unsustainable second hand imported "bale-model", often containing 40% unwearable clothes that directly go to local dumpsites as waste... 🫠 👉 Learn more about Revazi on Instagram (https://lnkd.in/dvCSvDdJ) or visit their website (www.revazi.africa)! ------- Antler's excited to back Revazi's team & idea from day zero, including Ryan Caplin (former co-founder of Recyclops with an MSc in Sustainability and Oxford MBA), Don Okoth (former co-founder and COO of Sendy) & Anthony Muyoki (12+ years full stack engineer from companies like Cellulant and KopoKopo). If you're an aspiring founder with a great idea, Antler works with founders to take exciting ideas to market! Click to learn more: https://lnkd.in/d2UZ5QWR

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Fashion brands must stay as lean as possible. Or they won’t survive in today’s market. If you look at the image below, average operating margins for fashion brands rarely go above 15%. Yes, there are exceptions like Hermès at 45%, but most brands don’t come close to that. I’ve audited over 100+ fashion brands. The ones growing while staying profitable usually sit between 10 to 15% net operational margins. Margins are already slim, and on top of that, this industry has a brutal cashflow cycle with heavy stock exposure. You often need to buy a lot, and often months in advance, depending on your production lead times and MOQs. So, what’s the current reality from someone who sees behind the scenes of tens of fashion brands every month? Most are either breaking even or losing money. And don’t get fooled by people sharing impressive numbers online. If you saw what I see, you’d know many of them are not winning at all. They’re coping. Hard. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀? 👉 Resourcefulness. I’ve seen brands doing €10M per year with 7 people and no office. And others doing €80K per month with 5 people and an expensive London office. In fashion, even small inefficiencies can break you. Overspend 5% on fixed costs, 4% on stock, 6% on ads, and suddenly you’re not profitable anymore. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲. If something doesn’t move the needle in a meaningful way, and you don’t have cash lying in the bank, don’t do it. 👉 Every decision should lead to: "It either moves the needle or it’s not worth it." Thinking of launching a variation of a product that’s only performing okay? Don’t. Spending 45 minutes a day in team stand-ups? Use that time to record a founder video instead. Thinking of renting that office? Don’t. Use that money to pay influencers to film unboxings and reviews for your socials and ads. We all have the same 24 hours. How we use them is what makes the difference. A salesperson can knock on doors all day or spend that same time building content online. We both know who wins in the long run. So ask yourself: Is what you're doing today actually moving the needle? If not, cut it. Your brand's future depends on it. ___ 🛍️ P.S. If you think we can help your #fashion brand achieve better results with paid advertising and economics optimisation, please visit: https://grapefox.com

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Starting a fashion brand is exciting........... but there are a few pitfalls I see again and again when working with start-ups Here are three of the big ones: ✨ Trying to please everyone If you don’t know exactly who your customer is, your designs, messaging and sourcing decisions can easily miss the mark ✨ Skipping the tech pack stage A tech pack is your blueprint without one, quotes will be inconsistent, production will be slower, and mistakes will creep in and cost you more money ✨ Making the range too big You don’t need a huge collection to start. 1–4 styles is more than enough to test the water. A smaller range keeps sampling and fabric costs down and gives you room to learn before you scale I’ve seen brands turn these mistakes around but it’s much easier (and cheaper!) to avoid them in the first place What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far? #fashionstartup #fashionfounders #fashionmentor #productdevelopment #ukmanufacturing #fashionbusiness

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