Afterpay has celebrated the Future of Fashion in partnership with eBay, together with designers, brands and industry leaders, through a panel discussion highlighting key themes of inclusivity, sustainability and accessibility to coincide with Afterpay Australian Fashion Week (AAFW).

Panelists included Afterpay Australia and New Zealand country manager and executive vice president, Katrina Konstas, eBay head of luxury, Brooke Eichhorn, and Australian Fashion Council advisor, Kellie Hush. Afterpay’s Future of Fashion collections and celebrity stylist, Elliot Garnaut moderated the panel.

During the event last week, eBay announced the expansion of its Authenticity Guarantee for luxury handbags over $350 across 16 designer brands including Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada.

A handbag is listed on ebay.com.au every two minutes with Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada among the top brands purchased, while brands like Fendi, Gucci and Saint Laurent have experienced double-digit growth over the last two years.

During eBay’s handbag authentication process, each item is meticulously inspected by authenticators who look in detail at quality of materials, brand logos, hardware and stitching. Genuine handbags are then shipped with an NFC card containing an encrypted digital authentication certificate. Buyers can scan the card with their phone to reveal the product’s details, SKU and date of authentication. Each certificate is unique, so the cards cannot be reused or replicated.

To celebrate the launch, a curated collection of pre-loved eBay-listed luxury handbags is featuring in Afterpay’s Future of Fashion Collections runway show, bringing pre-owned fashion to the AAFW runway for the first time.

eBay has an immersive interactive Authenticity Guarantee display featuring pre-loved and new high-end handbags in the heart of Carriageworks for the duration of AAFW.

Additional Afterpay initiatives to support an ongoing commitment to key AAFW pillars include:

Inclusivity

The fashion industry has made significant strides in becoming more inclusive and diverse, however as recognised by the panelists, disability remains under-represented. This AAFW, Afterpay is leading the way in improving inclusivity on fashion runways for both designers and models who are living with disabilities, partnering with disability advocates Nikki Hand and Lisa Cox to launch its Inclusive by Design program – an opportunity for designers with disabilities to showcase their collections to a panel of industry leaders, to then be selected to showcase their brand at AAFW.

Sustainability

Data shows that Australians acquire an average of 27 kilograms of new clothing per person annually and discard around 23 kilograms of clothing to landfill each year. The next generation consumer has identified this issue and are doing what they can to reduce their carbon footprint.

For brands, data shows that there is a high amount of textile waste in Australia, with one third of all new clothing from factories ultimately going to landfill. In an effort to reduce this waste, Afterpay has been supporting Thread Together, an organisation that sources new clothing from fashion retailers and redistributes items to those in the communities that need it most.

Accessibility

Afterpay believes that the future of fashion is accessible and affordable and that doesn’t mean a sacrifice in quality. With 69% of luxury shoppers globally choosing to purchase pre-owned items and Gen Z driving the growth in demand for pre-loved fashion brands such as eBay are joining Afterpay in the movement to make fashion more accessible, even for high quality goods.