THE NOLD's 2025 VISION
Empowering brands to embrace the samples & pre-loved market
By Boryana Uzunova, Co-founder of THE NOLD
THE PRESSING REALITY
I feel true luxury is not having more—it’s needing less. It’s living free of clutter, where your surroundings, mind, and choices are not overwhelmed by excess. I’ve always said my religion is nature, as it always seems to have the right mechanism even to precedents that ends up restoring balance and continuity. In nature, nothing is wasted, nothing unnecessary piles up, and nothing is designed for short-lived gratification. Yet, starting with our own bins, in parts of our word, we’ve built Everests of waste: items bought without thought, discarded without care, designed to fade from relevance as quickly as they’re created.
Living with exactly what you need is a superpower hard to attain these days because of the ultra targeting of companies to simply buy bye more, with no plan on the what do they do with the waste. A linear structure that simply takes from the planet’s resources to produce more, to be used shortly and to be discarded somewhere far away from our eyes so that we don’t feel the discomfort and consequences of our own consumption… for now. But it is coming… your Malvides get away is going extinct, the air is getting worse, no bio labels gets you a microplastics-free meal, I mean even the embryo of the child you are awaiting has microplastics in it before it has taken its first breath...
CURRENT CIRCULAR MODELS INCENTIVISES MORE PRODUCTION
I completely understand that it is in our genes to want more, to seek diversity, to consume. Yet the linear model is not the only model. We are SO mature of circularity in almost any industry. Despite not being a fashionista I have been so drawn to fashion, as it is one of the biggest polluters, yet truly one of the industries for which going circular is the easiest and makes the most sense - we do want to wear something different everyday, but does it need to be new? Absolutely not. Polyester clothing, which represents around 60% of the current clothing production composition, is build to last for 400 years. Why would you need a new one produced to be worn twice. I am grateful and quite optimistic to see us, the end-users being completely fine with the pre-loved market. This is likely one of our greatest progresses in terms of overcoming a stigma related to a delusional status of buying new, versus the financial, environmental and diversity efficiency of buying pre-loved. The resale market in fashion is growing 3x faster than first hand. I mean, humanity, well done!
But what happens when brands don’t get a piece of this pie? Trends get even shorter, new designs are coming faster to make you feel that what you buy pre-loved is not even relevant anymore so again you resort to what’s the newest color, cut, trend. The exclusion of brands from circular marketplaces simply breaks the natural incentive for brands to embrace circularity as instead of winning from it, they are losing market share to it.
OUR VISION: ALIGNING THE INCENTIVES FOR BRANDS TO EMBRACE CIRCULARITY
This has been the fundamental realization behind building the new old – THE NOLD. THE NOLD’s mission is to be the golden standard for brands embracing and profiting from circularity. THE NOLD is the bridge between brands and their users in this new and exciting secondary market that undoubtedly is destined to become the predominant market. As a first step, we have build a p2p marketplace for fashion where users can sell what they no longer wear and claim either 90% in cash or 100% to keep circulating in the platform.
But here's the game-changer. ANY brand is invited to join our ecosystem either via our marketplace , via a Sample Sale or by launching their own resale marketplace powered by our tech and once they do, we give all our profit from every transaction to them in return of backing us up. This way we are the first marketplace in the world to offer the user a 100% payout to keep circulating, whilst empowering brands to monetize from the secondary market. The more brands to join, the more liquidity and natural gravity the ecosystem develops, making it the natural and safe choice for every other brand.
But, we understand that we need all brands on board to make a difference and so a one size fits all solution that gets everyone on board is impossible. With this, whilst we cannot do everything in a day, we have centered our early days philosophy and technology to offer the greatest adaptability to the evolving needs of brands when it comes to where they are in their circular journey. As ate biggest step in 2025 we are focusing on helping brands to put into circulation existing overstock that is sitting idle. This solves a very important market failure of producing more, when in reality there is stock that 1) has taken planetary and financial resources to produce, 2) takes space and monetary resources to be kept in warehouses, when it can be put into circulation, 3) monetized on 4) while freeing space, 5) mitigating waste and 6) reducing the need of producing new items, 7) while injecting more liquidity and diversity in the secondary market.
Whilst a singular way towards circularity is rather a nirvana as my idol @Christina dean calls it, we need to have the brain trust of the brands to collaborate on the way forward and together build the bridge towards an industry standard that is commercially sustainable and where just like in nature, nothing is wasted, nothing unnecessary piles up, and nothing is designed for short-lived gratification.