Second-hand clothes for sale at two London railway stations

Network Rail is adding second-hand (‘pre-loved') clothing to the fashion ranges available on the nineteen stations that it manages.

London Bridge and London Victoria stations will host used clothing seller Good London. Co-founders David Brinson and Victoria Houston aim to encourage consumers to consider buying pre-loved clothing first.

They both have backgrounds in retail, and felt that there was a space in the fashion market for a “well curated pre-loved fashion offer that provides customers with a great in-store experience alongside the opportunity to purchase high quality clothing and accessories for the same price as a high street piece”.

Set up in February 2020, this is the first time that the independent brand has operated in the travel retail market.

Good London's pop-up spaces at the two stations take up 1,440 sq ft of retail space. London Bridge has nearly fifty retail outlets and London Victoria has thirty-eight.

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter Scotland has opened a 470 sq ft pop-up store at Glasgow Central, following a successful trial at the station earlier this year. Next month, Shelter will run pop-up shops at London Bridge, London Waterloo and London Victoria stations.

According to GlobalData, second-hand clothing sales in the UK grew by 149% between 2016 and 2022 and is expected to rise again by 67.5% from 2022 to 2026. Major brands are now reselling pre-loved items alongside new collections and the partnership between Love Island and eBay has increased the popularity of buying second-hand.

Hamish Kiernan, Commercial Director, Property at Network Rail, comments: “Pre-loved is increasingly seen by consumers as a smart choice. Our pop-ups with Good London and Shelter offer customers great quality and value. The offer importantly diverts clothing from landfill and provides visibility of a pre-loved offer to millions of passengers. We sought out Good London as a brand that could really add a point of difference to our retail mix and customer reaction demonstrates this.”

David Brinson, Co-founder and Managing Director at Good London, added: “Launching at London Bridge and London Victoria marks an incredible milestone for us at Good London. Giving millions of commuters the option of pre-loved fashion is great and the more popular pre-loved purchases become and the closer we get to the goal of fashion circularity.”

“Network Rail has been exceptional to work with from the initial approach to helping us get everything ready for our launch. We're delighted to bring our pre-loved clothing offering to customers using major train stations in the capital.”

Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, concluded: “Shelter Scotland exists to defend the right to a safe home for everyone. With homelessness at record levels in Scotland, our mission has never been more important. When you visit our pop-up in Glasgow Central not only will you have the chance to pick up some lovely pre-loved fashion, you'll also be joining us in our fight against the housing emergency.”

Network Rail own and manage 500,000 sq ft of prime retail space within major city centre stations across Great Britain. Over 650 million customers per annum visit its destination stations, which are home to over 145 brands, generating £60million in monthly sales.