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This preliminary study describes the Malawi second‐hand clothing market and recommends strategies for improved distribution by entrepreneurs. We explore the potential for formal retailing of second‐hand clothing in Malawi and present avenues for further research on the topic.

A critical content analysis was conducted using data from secondary sources. Data reduction, data display, conclusion drawing, and verification allowed for organization and compression of information, and assisted in identification of research gaps.

Preliminary findings suggest organizational structure and effective distribution channel relationships may lead small‐scale entrepreneurial ventures to grow in the Malawi formal market. It is apparent that second‐hand clothing retail entrepreneurs have significant location and resource advantages to leverage in the Malawi domestic market.

This analysis was based on limited literature given the undocumented nature of Malawi retailing and the second‐hand apparel market. Potential research phases that could build from this study includes ethnographic study of current second‐hand clothing distribution and consumption practices in the Malawi context, stakeholders' perspectives on formalizing the second‐hand clothing trade, and a feasibility study on entrepreneurial training and start‐up program for small formal retailers of second‐hand apparel.

The paper highlights the second‐hand clothing trade as an under researched area with much fruitful potential for future study. Also the proposed framework for understanding retail development and distribution of second‐hand clothing from an embedded market perspective may be transferable to other developing nations who rely heavily on second‐hand clothing to meet consumer apparel needs.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the business model of second-hand fashion stores and explore their challenges/opportunities and suggest potential strategies for second-hand fashion retail stores.

A qualitative research method using in-depth interviews of convenience sample of owners/store managers from within the USA was employed.

Contrasting the traditional retail stores, customers are the primary partners and suppliers of second-hand fashion stores. These stores retain minimal profits given a business model that typically involves sharing profits with customers. Cheaper price, thrill of finding great deals, value for brands and variety are the primary reasons mentioned by respondents for shopping at second-hand stores.

Limitations include the use of a convenience sample of store owners/managers as well as the research is limited to women and children’s stores. Respondents of the study were from the same geographical region and the characteristics of the redistribution markets may vary in a different region.

As a means to foster textile waste reduction through second-hand clothing business, these stores could adopt innovative revenue streams, additional partnerships, and improved fashion and store appeal that may be effective in increasing profits and the number of customers.

This study is one of the early attempts to examine the business model of second-hand fashion stores, a form of collaborative consumption in the fashion context. The study contributes in promoting second-hand fashion stores as a sustainable business model in the fashion industry.

The authors examine the role of entrepreneurial business models in the reverse supply chain of apparel/fashion retailers. The purpose of this paper is to offer an alternative approach to the “return to the point of origin” prevalent in the reverse chain of manufacturers but less technically and economically feasible in the case of apparel/fashion retailers. This approach, second-life retailing, not only reduces waste but also democratises consumption.

The paper is based on an extensive literature review, semi-structured interviews with managers of two second-life retailers in Malaysia and observations of a number of stores.

Using the Business Model Canvas, the authors demonstrate the essential characteristics of second-life retailers. Retailers in this study, unlike retailers in the developed world, combine traditional business models with off-price retailing. There is no clear demarcation between the forward and reverse supply chain used to manage first- and second-hand retailing.

The paper demonstrates the potential of innovative business models in the reverse supply chain. It encourages managers to look beyond the “return to the point of origin” and seek imaginative alternatives. Such alternatives potentially could result in additional revenue, enhanced sustainability and democratisation of consumption meeting triple bottom line objectives.

This paper highlights the importance and relevance of entrepreneurial business models in addressing the reverse supply chain, demonstrating this with the aid of two Malaysian off-price retailers. It also contributes to our nascent knowledge by focusing on emerging markets.

This paper aims to highlight the relevance of second-hand clothing (SHC) in the Ethiopian textile and apparel value chain by investigating its potential and establishing a connect to sustainability from a consumption point of view.

Primary and secondary methods of research were used in this research. Structured observational technique was used to identify the retailers in the city. In total, 70 retailers of SHC were identified and 15 big size retailers were interviewed with open end questions through judgment sampling method.

From the analysis of the field research and scientific literature, the authors strongly believe that SHC has an important space in the consumer retail segment of the country. This trade remains in the shadow but is sustaining livelihoods of citizens. The SHC trade provides an automatic balance to the future excessive consumption which is a result of mass production and hence should be encouraged further on various dimensions.

Existing literature exhibits statistics of the trade and impact in East African Community (EAC) missing out on Ethiopia as it is not a member of the EAC. Moreover a connection of SHC to sustainability established has never been established in the past for under-developing countries, and it is one of the critical factors in the success of used clothing and future of textile and apparel business. This research also provides channelized solutions to the business for smooth implementation of SHC in Ethiopia and other under-developing countries.

In the past few years, the view that participation in informal and/or second‐hand modes of goods acquisition results from economic necessity has been contested by an agency‐orientated cultural reading that views such engagement to be about the search for fun, sociality, distinction, discernment, the spectacular and so forth, and more recently by an approach that ascribes agency‐orientated motives to affluent populations and economic rationales to deprived populations. Drawing upon 120 face‐to‐face interviews conducted in the English city of Leicester however, the aim of this article is to display how engagement cannot be simply reduced to either economic necessity or agency. Finding that both co‐exist in people’s explanations for participation and combine in varying ways in different populations, a both/and approach is here advocated that recognises the entanglement of both economic necessity and choice in rationales for participation in informal and second‐hand modes of goods acquisition.

The purpose of this paper is to study the reuse and recycling of garments from the fashion industry's perspective. Through multiple case studies the paper maps the emerging organizational field of post-retail responsibility of garments, describing how and why several fashion companies have engaged with reuse and recycling practices and which opportunities and challenges they face.

The study relies on the qualitative multiple explorative case study method. The data were collected from 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven fashion companies and documentation analyses of two companies. Data were analyzed using the thematic analyses approach. The main limitation of the study is the limited selection of cases and therefore a larger data set and further studies are required to extend the understanding of the phenomenon for more generalized statements and in-depth understanding.

The findings demonstrate that post-retail responsibility of fashion is an emerging field in the fashion industry that offers several business opportunities to fashion companies, but also requires rethinking of existing value propositions and engagement of a wider stakeholder group in order to find sustainable solutions for garments’ end of life. The field is still new with limited best practice, however, two main strategies of how fashion companies address post-retail responsibility of their products can be distinguished: second hand retailing and product take-back schemes.

This paper contributes to research by advancing understanding of fashion industry's role in the end-of-life of their products and the associated opportunities and challenges. This study belongs to the first round of research that directly addresses the post-consumer textile waste from the fashion industry's perspective.

The view that alternative retail channels (i.e. informal and/or second‐hand modes of goods acquisition) are used out of economic necessity by disadvantaged consumers has been recently opposed by cultural theorists who instead read such channels in agency‐oriented terms as places of fun, sociality, distinction, discernment, the spectacular and so forth. To evaluate these contrasting perspectives, this paper reports data from 350 interviews conducted in rural England. Finding that the agency‐oriented view of alternative retail channels is valid amongst higher‐income populations but economic necessity remains the principal motive amongst lower‐income populations, this paper concludes that, for a fuller understanding to be achieved, the dualistic “either/or” debates between those promulgating economic necessity and those emphasising choice need to be replaced by a “both/and” approach sensitive to the variations in the meanings of such channels.

Second-hand/used goods channels compete with existing traditional channels to satisfy consumers’ needs that are unmet by traditional retail networks. However, most studies on online shopping have largely ignored online second-hand/used good purchases. This study aims to use Thaler’s mental accounting model, principal–agent perspective and contamination theory to highlight the differences in the value sought by online new goods and second-hand shoppers.

A conceptual framework linking perceived uncertainty, perceived acquisition value and e-loyalty was developed and tested using structural equation modelling. The moderating effects of product type (new vs second-hand) and frugality were also included.

The paper found strong support for the model. Results showed that online second-hand shoppers were more uncertain and perceived lesser levels of acquisition value when compared to new goods shoppers. They were also less frugal. Online shoppers are also more likely to buy products with sensory attributes (experience goods) in new goods websites and products with non-sensory attributes (search goods) from second-hand websites. The authors recommend various ways in which managers can increase perceived value for the online shopper.

Future studies can extend this investigation by including transaction value or other hedonic values to verify their impact on acquisition value and e-loyalty. While the authors found support for the notion that consumers who buy used goods online are less frugal, there is some research that could point to the opposite. Hence, research can investigate this topic in depth in more countries to throw more light on this.

To sustain themselves in a competitive online market, retailers need to understand the value sought by consumers. This study provides empirical evidence of the importance of acquisition value for new goods and second-hand shoppers.

No recent research has compared the value sought by online second-hand and new goods shoppers. This study contributes to the understanding of the acquisition value perceived by consumers in online new goods and second-hand shopping channels.

The purpose of this paper is to further theorize the concept of the “sustainable temporary store” and explore benefits and challenges for slow fashion retailers using temporary stores to promote a new value proposition and develop a business model.

The theoretical part combines the findings from marketing and human geography literature to theorize pop-up retailing from the slow fashion SME perspective. The empirical part uses a critical case study and a qualitative method approach (primary sources, half standardized interviews, ethnographic observation).

The study provides theoretical insights into five success criteria for the “sustainable temporary store” across geographies. Empirical findings allow for further conclusions about challenges in regards to spatial requirements and business modeling for slow fashion retail entrepreneurs in the Netherlands.

Limitations of the study are the geographical scope of exiting literature on the global north and the restricted sample size. However, by selecting a critical case, careful geographically restricted generalizations can be made.

The study provides useful information for slow fashion entrepreneurs who want to use cheap temporary space to develop their retail business model.

The results show that there is placemaking value (social value creation) in temporary slow fashion retailing.

The study provides a relevant contribution to the theory of pop-up retailing and more precisely to the concept of the “sustainable temporary store.” It also delivers a replicable empirical research design for other geographies.

According to the perspective of evolutionary economic theory, the marketplace continuously evolves over time, following the changing needs of both customers and firms. In accordance with the theory, the second-hand apparel market has been rapidly expanding by meeting consumers’ diverse preferences and promoting sustainability since 2014. To understand what changes in consumers’ consumption behaviors regarding used apparel have driven this growth, the purpose of this study is to examine how the second-hand apparel market product types, distribution channels and consumers’ motives have changed over the past five years.

This study collected big data from Google through Textom software by extracting all Web-exposed text in 2014, and again in 2019, that contained the keyword “second-hand apparel,” and used the Node XL program to visualize the network patterns of these words through the semantic network analysis.

The results indicate that the second-hand apparel market has evolved with various changes over the past five years in terms of consumer motives, product types and distribution channels.

This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the changing demands of consumers toward used apparel over the past five years, providing insights for retailers as well as future research in this subject area.