Love Island eBay: why has Love Island partnered with eBay, what is fast fashion, why is it significant?

Love Island announced last month that eBay would be its official UK fashion sponsor, in an effort to promote sustainability.

The partnership marks Love Island’s first collaboration with a pre-loved fashion retailer.

Since 2019, Love Island was sponsored by I Saw It First, a fast fashion brand that provided a range of new designs for the islanders to wear - with viewers shown how to buy the same clothes they were seeing on TV immediately.

Previously, Missguided was Love Island’s partner for season four of the show in 2018.

But as awareness of pollution and the climate crisis grows, Love Island has finally sensed the winds of change and now - eight seasons in - is ready to become more sustainable, now that it’s popular.

What does the Love Island eBay partnership mean?

Rather than being gifted with the latest trends in the fashion world, the islanders will have the opportunity to wear secondhand clothes, with a wardrobe full of eBay items installed in the villa.

Viewers will still be able to take inspiration from the islanders’ fashion choices - but they will be shown where to buy similar clothes from second hand retailers, rather than fast fashion giants.

It is hoped that this move will help continue to push the idea that second hand clothing is trendy and promote more sustainable fashion choices.

What is fast fashion?

Fast fashion is the method of getting new cheap and trendy designs onto the market as quickly as possible.

Shoppers will then buy the currently stylish items at a low price, wear them a handful of times, or sometimes just once, and then discard them after a few months.

Oxfam recently estimated that 13 million items of clothing are sent to landfill in the UK every week.

Big names in fast fashion include Zara, H&M, Boohoo, and Pretty Little Thing, to name a few.

Previously, Love Island has acted like a conveyor belt, sending newly formed influencers onto contracts with fast fashion companies.

Former Love Island stars Maura Higgins and India Reynolds became Boohoo brand ambassadors in 2019, and season 5 winner Molly-Mae Hague became creative director of Pretty Little Thing last year.

Whether or not this trend of Love Island stars joining fast fashion companies will continue, despite the show itself distancing from from the industry, remains to be seen.

Is fast fashion bad for the environment?

Yes. With the industry’s focus on making products as cheaply as possible, many fast fashion companies use inexpensive but toxic chemicals in their products which pollute water supplies.

The use of cheap materials like polyester causes microfibre pollution, causing microplastics to enter the oceans in greater quantities.

Another negative impact of fast fashion is that clothing is discarded as quickly as it is bought, increasing the amount of textile waste sent to landfills across the world.

The global fast fashion industry is estimated to produce 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and is one of the top five polluting industries behind energy, transport, and agriculture.

The human cost of fast fashion is also high - many fast fashion giants have their clothing made in companies with poor protections for workers, dangerous working conditions, low wages, the abuse of workers, and child labour are often part of the reason for the low prices.