A Difficult Journey Towards Sustainable Fashion

By Judy Cui
HKU Journalism and Media Studies Centre

Inside Green Ladies, a popular second-hand shop in Hong Kong, Nicole Leung found her favorite items – a Y2K style T-shirt and a bright green fluffy bowling bag.

Born and raised in Hong Kong and now owning a vintage business in Toronto, Leung and her friend Vyvy Hoang were interested in exploring Hong Kong’s thrift stores. However, they soon found the accessibility to second-hand shops here was not as good as at home.

“There’s a bigger thrifting scene back home,” said Hoang, who has a fashion background. “Toronto has more options, with a good range of pricing.”

Despite finding thrift stores in Hong Kong scattered around and lacking a go-to zone as fashion capitals like Tokyo does, Leung still spoke positively of her thrifting experience here, rating it 7.5 out of 10.

The travelling duo’s fleeting impressions rather captured Hong Kong’s circular fashion scenes. Also known as sustainable fashion, it is a systematic approach to apparel and style that minimises waste and pollution by extending the lifespan of clothing and materials through eco-friendly means such as recycling and reusing. 

Sustainable fashion practices in the city have been growing, but Asia’s self-claimed ‘world city’  is lagging behind in building a mature green fashion ecosystem.

In Hong Kong, two in five residents discard their clothes after a year or less, according to a survey by Redress, a Hong Kong-based environmental NGO aiming to accelerate the transition to circular fashion.

A significant portion of discarded clothing ends up in landfills, with the Environmental Protection Department estimating that out of the 388 tonnes of textiles sent daily in Hong Kong, about half comprises clothing. The statistics also revealed that the equivalent of 16 T-shirts are landfilled every second in Hong Kong.

As a global financial hub, Hong Kong benefits from proximity to manufacturing giants in Mainland China and established global trade networks. Hong Kong’s capacity to host international trade shows also significantly contributes to its potential as a leader in the sustainable fashion sector. Blessed with robust creative energies, Hong Kong is well-positioned to integrate sustainable brands into its supply chains effectively. 

“Hong Kong occupies a strategic position in the global sustainable fashion landscape, drawing strength from its unique East-meets-West culture, its status as a major financial hub, and a historic textile industry,” said Ekta Kacker Chopra, a sustainable fashion scholar working at the Fashion and Textiles School of Hong Kong Polytechnic. “The city has immense potential to lead the sustainable fashion movement in Asia.”

Yet, the city has not fully tapped into this potential. “To fully realize this potential, a unified approach from all stakeholders is crucial,” said Chopra.

Thrifting not Thriving 

Amid global efforts to combat climate change and conserve the environment, green fashion, which broadly adopts circular practices for sustainability purposes, has become a popular trend in the past decade. According to research from GlobalData, the global second-hand market is projected to grow by 77.8 percent between 2023 and 2028. Asia’s resale sector will see the fastest growth and be worth US$150 billion by 2028, JustStyle reported in March.

In Hong Kong, the second-hand clothing market has been growing, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s been a visible increase in the number of thrift shops, second-hand stores, and online platforms that specialise in pre-owned clothing. Prominent names like Green Ladies, The Redress Closet, Retykle, and Hula are leading the charge, but many others are emerging. However, it still trails behind some of its Asian counterparts.

“While places like Japan have long embraced second-hand fashion, Hong Kong’s adoption rate is noticeably slower,” said Vickie Au, founder and sustainable fashion consultant of  V Visionary Design Studio. 

Publications such as Vogue and Bazaar regularly highlight Tokyo as a global fashion capital, often emphasising its thriving second-hand and vintage fashion scenes.

Leung, the Toronto-based vintage seller, just traveled back from Japan. When asked about her experience of shopping for second-hand clothing in Tokyo, she said that similar to her home, Tokyo has a designated area for thrifting. She also added that it’s considered as a trendy and fun thing to do in the city.

According to Tokyo Weekender, a leading lifestyle magazine in Japan, Shimokitazawa has more than a hundred apparel stores, and almost half of them specialize in second-hand goods.

However, despite areas like Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po being well-knowned for their diverse second-hand markets in Hong Kong, clothing stores only occupy a small portion of the business in these neighborhoods, as second-hand electronics sellers dominate the market.

As of the end of 2023, Hong Kong has 25 physical stores and online shops that sell second-hand fashion, excluding pop-up markets, according to Redress’s shop second-hand directory. Over half of them are located in Kowloon while the rest are spread in Hong Kong Island.

“In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift in consumer behavior towards sustainable fashion and second-hand clothing in Hong Kong,” Au said, “although it remains relatively slow compared to other parts of the world and major cities across Asia.”

Green at Design Stage

In addition to customers, fashion designers also play a vital role as important stakeholders in promoting circular fashion within the city. By incorporating second-hand materials and applying textiles easier to recycle and more durable, sustainable fashion designers can contribute to the development of second-hand shops. 

In recent years, the city has seen local designers incorporating eco-friendly materials into their collections. For instance, Kay Wong, co-founder of the sustainable fashion brand Fashion Clinic, is known for her effort to reduce textile waste by repurposing discarded fabrics, encouraging consumers to consider the lifecycle of their clothing.

Despite the presence of a few pioneering individuals, there is a notable scarcity of designers fully committed to sustainable practices. 

“Eighty percent of the design, the environmental impact is locked in at the design stage,” according to Marianne Mclean-Atkins, Education Lead at Redress. “So if the design stage is done correctly, and you know where your responsibilities are, and you educate your designer to know where the waste hotspots are, or to understand what material that can be a life cycle approach.” 

Thus it’s crucial to educate designers to stop waste in the first place, which means designing better quality, designing for circular methods, and encouraging customers to take better care of the products, she added. 

Another stakeholder – education institutions – also plays a significant role in fashion industry’s conscious efforts towards sustainability. 

Institutions such as the Hong Kong Polytechnic University are spearheading innovation in sustainable fashion. Additionally, The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) contributes by conducting research and development to enhance sustainable technologies and materials within the textile sector.

Green Ladies & Redress Closet

Second-hand shops in Hong Kong take various business models, such as temporary pop-up stores, physical retail locations, or online platforms. Some stores operate on a consignment basis, such as women’s second-hand fashion stores Green Ladies and Y2K-style thrifting shop Asian Angles. The consignment model allows customers to sell their items through the shop’s online platform and take a cut once the item is sold.

Others act as peer-to-peer (P2P) models such as flea markets and pop-up thrifting shops connecting individual sellers directly with buyers, changing up the traditional retail model. The major brands in Hong Kong include Old but Gold, the Baymarket, and Byebuy Market. Additionally, some shops offer services like repairing or revamping clothing.

Among these models, the consignment-based approach has been prevalent. Green Ladies has set a pioneering example in this domain as one of the major players in Hong Kong’s second-hand fashion landscape.

The brand was launched in 2008, advocating for eco-friendly consumption practices and supporting middle-aged women through employment opportunities. In 2011, the organization transitioned to a consignment-based operation, which was the first social eco enterprise utilizing a consignment model in Hong Kong.

As shown on Green Ladies’s website, consignors start by making an online appointment and bringing items to the shop for evaluation based on style, quality, and condition. Items that don’t meet the criteria are returned. 

Once approved, consignors sign a contract to receive up to 30 percent of the selling price as a rebate or choose to donate it, while the shop determines the selling price. Items are displayed for a two-month consignment period, after which any unsold items are donated to Green Ladies automatically. 

According to Mandy Man, a Green Ladies staff for over 12 years, unsold clothes will be processed by St. James’ Settlement, a non-governmental charitable organization. All revenue would belong to St. James’ Settlement, excluding the store’s rent, utility bills, and staff salaries.

 “A lot of our customers not only consign their unworn clothes to us for selling but also buy second-hand clothes from us,” said Man, who works in one of Green Ladies’ four outlets in town, Wanchai. “Most of the customers are middle-aged women, while there are also younger people and the elderly shopping here.” 

On the other hand, charities such as Redress approach this industry from a different angle, focusing more on community involvement and education. Aimed at reducing Hong Kong’s clothing waste, the local NGO launched The Redress Closet in 2021 to offering second-hand clothing and accessories.

Instead of engaging with the original donators, Redress Closet collects clothes from an all-year-round take-back program, with boxes in the shop and over 20 permanent clothing boxes across the city. Such boxes can be found in partner fast-fashion shops including Tommy Hilfiger, Zara, and American Eagle.

In May, Redress set up hundreds of boxes in Hong Kong, as part of the Get Redressed Month campaign, which originated in 2018. 

According to Mclean-Atkins, clothes collected from the boxes are sorted at Redress’s warehouse into three levels based on their condition and value. The first level consists of high-end, resellable clothes that are in good condition — unstained, unripped, and deemed valuable enough for resale in the store.

Items that don’t qualify for resale are from fast fashion brands such as Uniqlo, Gap, and Shein. They are then donated to partners including the Red Cross, which redistributes them to families or individuals in need.

“Anything that is on the taste level of fast fashion, throwaway fashion,” Mclean-Atkins said of the second-level in their categorisation. “We don’t resell unless we feel it is super cool and you would hate it for someone to not wear it.”

Additionally, clothes that are stained or ripped are ended up in downcycling. The Redress Closet encourages designers to repurpose these materials, although items like school and sports uniforms are typically downcycled due to a lack of alternative options.

The level evaluation is completed during sorting by staff, and the local community who is engaged in sorting events. Besides the actual shop itself, the organization also holds biannual pop-up exhibitions.

“We want to really use Redress Closet as a platform, much like we do with the competition as a platform to designers,” said Mclean-Atkins, “ The Redress Closet is an opportunity to educate consumers with the relationship of clothes.”

Cultural Taboos

Despite the development of various business models in the circular fashion industry in Hong Kong, the relatively high prices of second-hand items pose challenges for the niche market to become mainstream.

Compared to Tokyo, Hong Kong lacks a diverse price range for second-hand clothing and accessories. According to the Japan Travel website, in the trendy neighborhood of Shimokitazawa, second-hand shop Stick Out sells everything at ¥800 (HK$40). Another vintage store, Tanpopo House, is renowned for its extremely cheap prices, with some items starting as low as ¥105 (HK$5).

In contrast, the average price for a women’s top is around HK$100 in Hong Kong’s major thriftstores. For example, a corset-like top listed on thrifting store Asian Angel’s Instagram account cost around HK$290. 

The pricing disparities highlight a barrier to making second-hand fashion more accessible and appealing. However, beyond this aspect, there are deeper cultural factors that also hinder the widespread acceptance of second-hand clothing.

“I feel their biggest challenge in Hong Kong is definitely cultural taboos and perceptions,” the fashion scholar Chopra said. “A part of the society here still looks down on wearing second-hand clothing while some have issues with the cleanliness of the second-hand garments.” 

In contrast, in Japan and other major cities in the West, where circular fashion is more developed and accepted by the public, thrifting has become a mainstream trend that reflects one’s social and cultural awareness. 

Hoang, the Toronto-based visitor, said in Canada, people want to express themselves through second-hand items, amid a growing attitude that every piece is unique and deserves to be treated with care and respect. 

“Every subject matters,” she said, adding that younger generations in West are leaning towards making sartorial choices a lifestyle issue, while showing their stand on protecting the environment through timeless pieces. 

The mainstream purchase behavior in Hong Kong is almost the opposite. The joint research on clothing consumption habits in Hong Kong by Redress and Edelman revealed that there is a strong preference for shopping in physical stores rather than online, with brand-new clothes being more attractive than secondhand items due to concerns about hygiene and quality.

The report also shows that, on average, the public tends to start considering discarding their clothes if they have owned them for at least one year.

“You cannot buy sustainability; it’s a way of thinking,” Mclean-Atkins at Redress pointed out the biggest challenge to promote circular fashion in Hong Kong is to educate the public.  

Bridge the Action Gap

Hong Kong’s position in the global economy provides a solid basis for the city to take the lead in sustainable fashion innovations in the region. However, in order to fully capitalise on this potential, it’s essential to bridge the gap between consumers’ intentions for sustainability and their actual purchasing behaviors.

“We’re right in the heart of the global supply chain,” said Mclean-Atkins, adding Hong Kong has this opportunity to become “an innovative technology-driven solution for where textiles are made and where garments are produced”. Asia is 60 percent of the world’s production of textiles.

Chopra, the fashion scholar at the Polytechnic university, said the action gap in consumer sustainability practices refers to the misalignment between a customer’s intention, their expressed concerns for the environment, and their actual purchasing decisions. 

Many consumers in Hong Kong are aware of the fashion industry’s carbon footprint, and many aspire to support sustainability by purchasing second-hand items. However, these intentions often don’t translate into actions, with the latter more influenced by social, psychological, and economic factors.

“To bridge the action gap in Hong Kong’s second-hand market, the first step is to improve how people perceive second-hand clothing,” Chopra said, “This can be done by marketing the quality and, more importantly, showcasing the clothes in a trendy and appealing way.”

“After all, fashion is about desire, not necessity.”

Advisor: Ting Shi