able decisions throughout their supply chain and for customers to participate in the circular fashion economy,” Gayle Burchell, The Iconic’s chief commercial and sustainability officer, told Inside Retail. “We recognise the position we have to educate our customers and brands on what circularity means, and how we can use our platform to accelerate the transition for the Australian fashion industry,” she continued. But The Iconic isn’t expanding its sustainable product range for the sake of it – it is serious about building a commercially viable circular fashion solution. “We are committed to making real, measurable progress on sustainability and see strong potential for our Rescued pilot as a business model,” Burchell stated. It takes a village The Iconic has launched its ‘Rescued’ program as an initial six-month pilot to listen, test and learn before looking to scale it further. But before The Iconic launched the pilot publicly it conducted extensive research through its customer focus groups via its ‘Inner Circle’ research arm, whose feedback has shaped the brand’s ‘Re-Iconic’ circularity hub, including Rescued. According to The Iconic’s research, 92 per cent of its surveyed customers told the brand they would use one or more ‘Re-Iconic’ services, 70 per cent are interested in shopping for pre-loved items and 53 per cent are interested in rescued items. “We know the re-commerce market can be overwhelming and many struggle to find desirable and dependable services—our mission statement is to create a better way to shop and we believe the launch of Rescued really fits that definition,” Burchell shared. Not only did The Iconic make sure its customers were eager for a new category of repaired and upcycled pieces, it ensured its brand partners were invested in the success of the pilot. “Together with Revibe, we have focused on a small group of brands with a strong resale potential and quality fabrications which means they can be repaired and cleaned such as Alemais, By Johnny, L’idee, Shona Joy, Reformation, Rebecca Vallance and more,” Burchell said. “We aim to learn together, refine the process over time and share the insights gained with everyone involved,” she added. According to Burchell, the operational logistics have been significant to get the ‘Rescued’ program pilot up and running by building out a high-quality repair model, setting up new systems and working models.  “There isn’t much frameworking in this space so we’ve had to strike a balance between commerciality and compliance while ensuring we deliver a great customer experience,” she stated. The Rescued program pilot also required operational input from almost every sector of The Iconic’s business: “From our sustainability leads heading up the project and consulting closely with Revibe, our buyers identifying the opportunity to bring Re/Lax Remade on site as our first upcycled brand, our fulfillment centre team intercepting eligible items, our legal, finance and risk teams supporting compliance and helping to navigate a new business model,” Burchell explained. “Our e-commerce and creative teams have brought Rescued to life for our customers on site and our marketing and communications team have helped to spread the word – it has really taken a collective effort,” she elaborated. The ‘Rescued’ program also relies on its marketplace partner Revibe to repair items and upcycle brand Re/lax Remade to rework items for the new category. “A single business acting alone isn’t able to create systemic change in the fashion industry – it’s going to take all of us,” Burchell said. The introduction of the ‘Rescued’ pilot program follows The Iconic’s launch of a slew of circular fashion initiatives including its pre-loved shopping category in partnership with Cirkular, The Real Deal and Azura Reborn. “If we can get our customers thinking differently about our wardrobes, and our brands thinking differently about their own operations and the potential to do things differently – that’s a huge win,” Burchell concluded.