Rebag Looks to Loyalty, WhatWeCherish Launches and Shein Factory Funding Ensues: Short Takes
Social Impact: A new luxury goods marketplace wants to give the credit where it’s due — back to African designers and craftspeople.
Launched earlier this month by entrepreneur (and former fashion market editor) Melaney Oldenhof, WhatWeCherish is meant to celebrate African contemporary design, decor, accessories and natural beauty and imbues a worker-owned cooperative model to ensure profit lands directly with partners. Brands carried include Mozambique-based beach totes from Dathonga Designs, among others that specialize in rural development projects to promote job creation and community development. Beauty brands include SukiSuki and Nokware, while decor includes collections from the likes of Smtng Good x Lulama, Ark and Kaross, among others.
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WhatWeCherish said a portion of sales will be donated to selected charities promoting early education and environmental preservation, though Oldenhof said the business is still vetting potential partnerships.
As with existing companies like The Folklore, WhatWeCherish looks to increase brand exposure and reshape the perception of African goods in the luxury space with an eye towards sustainability, which is inherent to the businesses.
Factory Funding: Earlier this week, Fashion for Good unveiled updates in a $4.5 million supplier funding project alongside the Laudes Foundation.
Under the initiative, which aims to improve sustainable manufacturing practices in the industry, India-based manufacturer Pratibha Syntex Ltd. demonstrated the potential power of the loan. Already, Pratibha’s spinning, processing and garmenting divisions showed financial and environmental gains (cutting resources by half across energy, water and material processes). Some notable highlights included solar panel installation at the facility. Pratibha’s clients include C&A, Nike, Patagonia, Prana, Zara and Ann Taylor.
Meanwhile, fast-fashion player Shein announced $15 million in funds this week will be allocated toward factories for improving supplier standards after accusations against worker well-being surfaced.
Specifically, the news trailed an undercover investigation in October by Channel 4, which found some staff were subjected to 18-hour days and withheld wages, similar to a November 2021 investigation that put Shein at the center of controversy.
The fast-fashion brand later refuted the claims upon independent auditing.
Resale Moves: As of Wednesday, Rebag announced the introduction of “Rebag Wallet,” a tool that centralizes seller payouts, (or seller funds), as well as all additional Rebag proceeds. Accompanying this launch is “Premium Payouts,” as a reward for sellers who keep their seller funds in their Rebag Wallets for one or more months.
Seller funds increase by 1 percent per month for up to 12 months, and clients get an added 10 percent spending bonus for buying from Rebag. The move is a way to encourage retention and maximize “spending power” for Rebag, not unlike apparel retail employees using employee discounts at their workplace for new clothes to wear on the job.
A client who sells an item, leaves their Seller Funds in their Wallet for the full 12 months, then puts the Funds toward a Rebag purchase will see their spending power increase to 24 percent. Today’s $5,000 offer, for example, would be worth $6,200 at Rebag in 12 months.
