eBay Endless Runway has turned a London Fashion Week catwalk into a shop window. For a third year, every look was pre-loved and could be bought in real time through eBay Live, and eBay says it is the only pre-loved shoppable show on the LFW schedule.
A Gucci bag donated by actress Daisy Edgar-Jones opened at £500 while London's fashion crowd sat watching in the room, and online commenters sent in bids of their own. Pre-loved is usually sold as the budget option, so who exactly was this show for?
How eBay Endless Runway Works at London Fashion Week
Inside Space House, a Brutalist landmark, host Raven Smith read out prices and facts as each item went to auction. The pieces came from contributors who chose them from their own wardrobes and creative worlds to answer a single theme, 'Forever'.
The line-up ranged across fashion, film, literature, art and culture. It included model and activist Adwoa Aboah, stylist Harry Lambert, designers Charles Jeffrey and Giles Deacon, poet Kai Isaiah Jamal and filmmaker Akinola Davies. eBay's Pre-Loved Styling Team styled each look, and the British Fashion Council produced the show.
Lambert contributed a Jean Paul Gaultier Mona Lisa mesh top. A Chanel tweed skirt suit jacket from 2005 sold for £650. The Gucci bag is the missing piece of the story, because so far no coverage says who bought it.
The catwalk was only one stage. eBay Live also planned a five-day programme of streams at 180 Studios from 17 to 21 September, giving shoppers more chances to buy pre-loved pieces during the week.
Is Pre-Loved Fashion Democratising London Fashion Week?
eBay's case is an emotional one. Kirsty Keoghan says an item's value isn't always monetary or about fashion, and that 'sometimes it's about the memories and meaning attached to it'. She pointed to a dress donated by Giles Deacon, whose silhouette had been reworked over several years, and said the show reflects how people really shop today as the resale market continues to grow.
The price tags complicate that argument. The £500 opening bid on the Gucci bag and the £650 paid for the Chanel jacket are the only figures reported so far, and they cast doubt on how open the show is to ordinary shoppers.
A second question remains. Does a livestreamed sale change buying habits once the show ends, or does it simply add a resale moment to a fashion calendar still built around new collections?
Neither point has been addressed in the coverage so far, and little of the online reaction beyond the bids has been reported.
Supporting the Central Saint Martins Fashion Fund
Proceeds from sales through eBay Live during the show were donated to Central Saint Martins' Fashion Fund for student scholarships, facilities and special projects. Keoghan described the aim as backing the designers and stylists of the future, who need room to develop their ideas.
The available reports do not disclose the amount raised, leaving the biggest number in the story missing.
eBay Endless Runway has made a persuasive case that pre-loved belongs on London Fashion Week's stage. Whether sustainable shopping of this kind changes what people buy once the livestream ends is still unsettled, and the next edition may offer the first real clue.
