Secondhand clothing sales are booming – and may help solve the sustainability crisis in the fashion industry

Posted on by mgray

Hyejune Park, Oklahoma State University and Cosette Marie Joyner Martinez, Oklahoma State University

A massive force is reshaping the fashion industry: secondhand clothing. According to a new report, the U.S. secondhand clothing market is projected to more than triple in value in the next 10 years – from US$28 billion in 2019 to US$80 billion in 2029 – in a U.S. market currently worth $379 billion. In 2019, secondhand clothing expanded 21 times faster than conventional apparel retail did.

Even more transformative is secondhand clothing’s potential to dramatically alter the prominence of fast fashion – a business … Read the rest

FUCT gets day in court as SCOTUS considers dropping slippery moral standard when granting trademarks

Posted on by mgray

Megan M. Carpenter, University of New Hampshire

When’s a brand too scandalous to trademark?

That’s a question the Supreme Court will soon decide in a case that tests the constitutional limits of free speech.

I attended the oral argument on April 15, when lawyers representing streetwear clothing label FUCT argued the company has a right to register its brand as a trademark, which helps protect against copycats. The United States Patent and Trademark Office had rejected it on the grounds that FUCT is “immoral” and “scandalous.”

As a trademark attorney and scholar, I believe it’s time the … Read the rest