French fashion retailer targets Scottish market

The Patatam team ahead of the online platform's UK launch. Picture: contributed

A French-based online retailer of second-hand clothing is encouraging Scots to shop in a more sustainable and ethical way as it enters the UK marketplace.

Patatam, an e-retailer aiming to “bring secondhand clothing to the mainstream”, is targeting Scotland as part of its push across the Channel after officially launching the UK version of its website.

The platform, which has been operating in France since 2013, allows consumers to buy and sell “preloved” goods from high street brands including Topshop, Zara and River Island, at up to 70 per cent less than their original market prices.

The e-retailer contributes to the circular economy by selling on clothes sourced from charity shops, housing clearance centres and the public, reducing the amount of textiles sent to landfill and recycling pre-used goods.

Patatam said it differs from other online fashion marketplaces, as customers are able to send the site details of their unwanted clothing to generate a quote, before shipping the items to its warehouse free of charge by using its Patabag service. Once the clothing has passed quality control checks, the company will send payment to the seller and market the items online.

Co-founder Eric Gagnaire said: “At Patatam, we support those shoppers who want to be fashionable, but do so more ethically, by searching for or selling their pre-loved quality clothing from their favourite high street brands.

“Our mission at Patatam is to reduce the high levels of clothing waste in landfills in the UK. This can be done through purchasing the pre-loved quality clothes from the site or using our new, revolutionary Patabag, which removes the inconvenience of selling on their quality second hand clothes.

“We want to bring second hand clothing to the mainstream and make fashion shopping ethical for all involved.”