eBay UK signs up to sponsor new Love Island All Stars show

eBay is clearly pleased with its Love Island sponsorship so far and has just announced that it’s set to be the headline sponsor for ITV’s first-ever Love Island All Stars (LIAS) series, “championing second chances for both love and fashion” when it launches next month.  

The new show will feature contestants from past seasons of the hit TV series.

Amy Bannerman, celebrity stylist and eBay’s Pre-Loved Style Director, will be sourcing fashion from eBay, alongside the LIAS styling team, to style the All Stars cast. Alongside a curated selection of pre-loved clothing, a selection of pre-loved authenticated sneakers and garments from eBay’s Imperfects range will also be heading to the villa wardrobe. 

When Love Island began, its fashion sponsors were mass-market fast-fashion companies. But in 2021, ITV pivoted and dived deep into pre-owned. The online marketplace became Love Island’s first ever secondhand fashion partner and that drove over 1,400% more searches for ‘pre-loved fashion’ on the site during series nine, compared to series eight. 

Then for 2023, it became the summer show’s lead sponsor, giving “an opportunity to broaden its reach and appeal among the show’s primary audience of 18-34 year olds,” while showcasing its offer of pre-loved fashion and “driving conversation around fashion circularity”.

The extension of the link up makes good commercial sense. Every minute in the UK, five pre-loved dresses, two pairs of pre-loved jeans and eight pre-loved tops are sold on eBay.  And a rise of 2,230% in searches for ‘love island pre-loved’ during a one-month period from May to June 2023 underscores how the marketplace’s already-strong secondhand trade surges when the TV show is brought into the equation. It said it also saw  335% more searches for ‘pre-loved fashion’ generally during the same period.

The rising demand for such pieces has also led to an increased number of listings for them, which creates a virtuous circle helping to drive greater uptake of secondhand fashion.

Jemma Tadd, Head of Fashion at eBay UK, said: “Our collaboration with one of the UK’s most iconic TV shows has successfully ignited a pre-loved boom and brought it into the mainstream.” 

And Mike Spencer, Creative Director of Love Island at Lifted Entertainment, added:  “As a production, we are continuing to work up new ways of showcasing pre-loved items in the show, as well as representing a conscious fashion cycle.”