Resale culture is changing the way we shop and Dotte – a fashion-forward peer-to-peer marketplace – is making waves in the childrenswear sustainability sector by introducing the Dotte resale collective.
The new initiative brings together progressive brands that are passionate about becoming more circular, reducing waste, and ultimately, minimising the impact of fast fashion. Resale is a huge opportunity for brands, as customers seek solutions that enable them to live more sustainably.
The platform is launching with the following brands: Tobias & the Bear; Turtledove London; Zig and Star; Another Fox; Raspberry Plum; Indikidual; KISO and Mère Soeur. More brands will follow soon.
A recent report highlighted just 5-7% of preloved fashion is currently being bought and sold on resale platforms. However, reselling is the most effective way customers can reduce their fashion carbon footprint.
By choosing to shop second-hand, families can save up to 75% of carbon emissions associated with producing an item of clothing. Plus, up to 79% of the emissions associated with sending an item to landfill.
Dotte’s resale collective is committed to supporting sustainably minded brands. It does this by extending the lifecycle of the brands’ garments and offering a full circle remedy. It is also encouraging more parents to buy well and resell.
95% of parents hold brands responsible to address their sustainability concerns. They also expect them to be brave in developing solutions that will enable them to live more sustainably.
Dotte’s brand partners direct customers to resell on the platform and in return increase their brand loyalty and raise awareness amongst new customers. Dotte provides its community with added perks, too. For instance, exclusive online pop-up shops with brand partners.
It also encourages consumers to shop new with brand partners by offering credit or discount on new season items when they sell any of that partner’s preloved garments via the platform. Beyond peer-to-peer buying and selling, Dotte offers its community the chance to donate and recycle; helping to eliminate clutter and production waste.
The founders
Dotte was co-founded by Samantha Valentine and Louise Weiss. Passionate about making shopping joyful and accessible for all parents, Valentine has used her previous retail experience to create a space that opens circular fashion for all families.
As well as being a parent herself to Lotte, she has spent the last four years building deep relationships with parents as part of a movement towards more informed birthing through her own company, Blume. She’s now applying those learnings and her passion as the driving force behind Dotte’s community.
“More than a marketplace, Dotte is a movement of families who believe fashion shouldn’t cost the earth,” says Valentine. “We envisage a future where Dotte is more of a verb than a noun; a way for parents to continually sell or recycle old clothes when the time comes.”
From being a neuroscientist at Great Ormond Street Hospital to running arts-based community projects with Science Gallery London; Louise Weiss has a passion for bringing together science and art for innovation and social impact.
After becoming a parent to Dot and Sam, she felt a call to protect one of the most important things for her kids; the planet they live on. Having co-founded Dotte, she’s now focusing on how to bring together the worlds of tech and fashion to slow down fast fashion.
“Our generation has learned to put consumption at the heart of fashion,” says Weiss. “Buy, buy, buy. But for kids, fashion can play such an important role in exploring their identity and self-expression.
“Here at Dotte we want to put creativity back at the heart of fashion for kids, whether that’s by developing their own unique sense of style via preloved, refashioning old clothes, or learning to make their own. We want our children to grow up with a much healthier relationship with fashion.”
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