Bachelor’s thesis developed online sales of second-hand clothing for Aarrelabel

Business management student Tanja Nikola completed her thesis as part of the Baltic2Hand project coordinated by Laurea.

Participants in Tanja Nikola's workshop, which she held for Black Moda employees based on her thesis.

Consumers expect the clothing industry to be responsible, and at the same time, the trade of used clothing between consumers on various online platforms is popular. But how could clothing brands themselves promote the circular economy and sell second-hand clothing online?

Laurea business management student Tanja Nikola sought answers to this question in her thesis. The thesis was carried out as part of the Baltic2Hand project and commissioned by the Finnish family-owned clothing company Black Moda Oy, which is responsible for the operations of the Aarrelabel brand.

A business model for selling second-hand products?

- We have previously collaborated with partners in the sale of second-hand products, but now we wanted to explore how we could organise it ourselves and develop a viable business model for it, says Marja-Kaisa Kuusimaa, Responsibility Specialist at Black Moda Oy, describes Aarrelabel's starting point.

In her thesis, Tanja Nikola surveyed the Finnish second-hand market and sought good benchmark solutions for Aarrelabel. In her review, Nikola considered, among other things, the profitability of various options from a business perspective, logistics aspects and brand benefits. In her thesis, Nikola also proposed suitable solutions for Aarrelabel in relation to events and Instagram sales, for example.

- We are a small company and our resources for developing such new solutions are limited. That's why Tanja's thesis was a great help to us, Kuusimaa says.

The collaboration continued in a workshop

The collaboration on the topic continued after the thesis was completed in the spring, when Tanja Nikola held a workshop for Black Moda employees. The workshop focused on developing the second-hand sales of Aarrelabel products.

Tanja received good feedback on her workshop, and it was great to get everyone's brains together to think about second-hand sales from different perspectives. It was also really important that we had someone from outside the company to shake things up a bit and challenge us, Marja-Kaisa Kuusimaa continues.

Tanja Nikola is also pleased with the collaboration that began with her thesis:

- My thesis provided a wonderful opportunity to both deepen the collaboration with Aarrelabel in the Baltic2Hand project and develop new ideas based on the business model, she says.

- In my opinion, the most important insight was that even though circular economy solutions are not always the easiest financially, they can still bring a lot of value to the brand.

The Baltic2Hand project promotes the reuse of textiles

Tanja Nikola's thesis originated as part of the Baltic2Hand project coordinated by Laurea. The project improves textile reuse and reduces textile waste in the second-hand market from 1.4.2023 until 30.3.2026.

In the Baltic Second-Hand project, organizations in the fashion and textile industry in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Sweden develop their business models towards sustainability and circular economy. Using a service design process, the project maps and designs new opportunities in re-using textiles and in reducing textile waste. The project tests and pilots potential solutions and promotes consumer use of secondhand textiles.

Baltic2Hand is funded by an Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2021-2027 project that is co-funded by the European Union.