When the pandemic hit the world, its ripple effect changed the approach with which we lead our lives. Mindfulness of socio-economic factors also led to sartorial enlightenment making people learn ways to optimise their wardrobe and pledge to make conscious purchases. With consumers encouraged to adapt to sustainable fashion, pre-loved fashion has become more than just a buzzword. Revivify traces the rise in its popularity:

Featuring custom-made embroidery and tailoring rendered over hours together, couture creations hold archival value. But any painstakingly crafted ensemble not seeing the light of the day more than a couple of times raises a point of concern, both eco-conscious and environmental. Increasing designer wear’s shelf life with refurbishing, styling tweaks, or paving a rotational direction for the owner to pass it on to the next person, however, can serve as an antidote. While sustainable fashion can be decoded in the cycle—buy, love, wear and repeat, pre-loved fashion boosts the concept by relaying the same to the next person. It essentially thrives on the interest and curiosity of mindful customers who are ready to invest in looks with longer style mileage.

Pre-loved or vintage clothing is deemed to be a prized possession for decades. There is a sense of exclusivity in owning creations that have been discontinued in production by the designers. A vintage piece could also elicit the memory of how a style statement came into the radar. Case in point: The concept sari is reprised every season on the runway. But the signature sari gowns from the earliest collection of Anamika Khanna can still garner the attention they did on various red carpets.