Will Love Island’s Ebay deal change how people view fashion?

Like it or not, Love Island sets trends.

With just a few days to go, the Love Island fever is well and truly among us. And as we know, there are a few changes this year including a brand new villa and a longer running time. But perhaps the biggest change of all, was the one that no one saw coming - the decision to ditch its fast fashion sponsors. Announcing the surprising news last month, executive producer Mike Spencer said: "We are thrilled to be pairing up with Ebay this year as our pre-loved fashion partner. As a show we strive to be a more eco-friendly production with more focus on ways in which we can visibly show this on screen. "This partnership will see our Islanders get to dive into the shared wardrobes and help themselves to some incredible pre-loved clothes sourced from Ebay. We aim to inspire our demographic and show that there are incredible finds to be had and how sharing is, in some small way, caring." In the past, the ITV show and fast fashion went hand in hand. It gave us drama, endless memes, new 'celebs' to obsess over, but we were also being sold fast fashion the entire time - even if we didn't quite realise it. Companies like I Saw It First and Missguided styled the ITV show's contestants, with eager fans rushing off  to purchase what they saw on their fave. And it didn't stop when the show ended either. Contestants often went on to work as brand ambassadors for fast fashion brands, most notable being Molly Mae Hague who bagged herself the role of creative director at PrettyLittleThing. But it's not all glamour. The fast fashion industry is is one of the world's biggest polluters and our mass consumption is having a devastating impact on the environment. Not only that, with so many inexpensive garments being rolled out so quickly, many items usually aren’t ethically made - so we're left with problems like unsafe working conditions, inadequate pay and forced labour. Former Love Island contestant Brett Staniland, a fashion model who appeared briefly on 2021's Love Island, actually spoke out about the issues afterwards. Appearing at a protest outside a Pretty Little Thing event, he said" "The fashion industry doesn't get taken seriously with the climate crisis.... They use women of colour at the front of their campaigns to mask women of colour in their supply chains that they don't pay. "It's exploitation from where ever you look at it. They don't care." Like it or not, Love Island sets trends. So it's highly likely this is going to show consumers that slow fashion doesn't just mean boring old hand-me-downs and get people to consider second-hand shopping. Another perk is that we won't feel that need or temptation, when we see an islander's outfit, to buy it straight away, because we can't (previously, you could often buy the exact item of clothing on a sponsor's website). If nothing else, it will at least get people talking and raise awareness around the reasons why mass consumption of fast fashion is, well, not exactly the best. We can't wait to see what looks the contestant have in store.