Love Island for the past 7 years has been culturally iconic in defining looks and fashion, yet have always partnered with fast fashion brands, driving a 67% rise in sales for fast fashion brands in 2019. With 61.6 % of viewers averaging between 16 and 34, this was the perfect place for eBay to reach a new demographic to talk about their pre-loved fashion offerings. Our brief; to turn the heads of young Love Island fans to pre-loved fashion and eBay. Because if it can fuel unsustainable shopping, maybe it could inspire sustainable shopping too.

To change people’s shopping habits and perceptions of eBay, we partnered with the UK’s biggest reality TV show, Love Island. Finally putting an end to their relationship with toxic fast fashion, we kitted out the Love Island contestants with a stunning pre-loved wardrobe curtesy of eBay.

We hand-picked celebrity stylist and ex Cosmopolitan Fashion Director, Amy Bannerman to assemble the pre-loved wardrobe for the Islanders. These exact outfits were then made available to buy via eBay, so fans could hunt the looks down for themselves. In addition, a rotation of different “Shop the islander” edits were made available on eBay throughout the season, so fans could tap into the individual style of the islanders.

When it came to pre-loved fashion, eBay was the unpopular option as the market was dominated by the cool kids; Vinted, Depop, Vestiaire. All of these brands were overtly communicating a message of sustainability targeted to the eco-conscious young fashion lovers. However, we knew even though Gen Z and Millennials want to be more fashion conscious, they are the more likely to resort to fast fashion due to it being trendier and more easily accessible. Therefore, we thought that we had to go straight at the heartland of fast-fashion and show young people that they could- quite literally-look like Love Island stars if they shop pre-loved fashion on eBay. Which was a major win for eBay and second-hand fashion because we got more coverage, earned share of voice and reactions than any of the second-hand platforms ever managed to achieve.

The campaign had 1707 pieces of PR coverage from big national publishers, including Guardian, BBC News, and fashion specialists Vogue, Marie Claire.

We dominated the news agenda, with coverage in all UK national newspapers on the day of launch. Igniting a conversation which put into question the future of fast fashion and heralded a new era to normalise pre-loved, with eBay at its heart. “Love Island’s partnership with eBay is proof that sustainability has cracked the mainstream” Metro.

We saw a +1600% uplift in searches for “pre-loved fashion” on eBay through our campaign activity. With 935% more mentions of ‘pre-loved fashion’ across all online platforms than during the same time last year, and media mentions of eBay fashion up by 74%. 53% of Love Island viewers admitted that they would consider buying pre-loved over new items since watching the show and 23% making their first pre-loved purchase this summer.