What does "preloved" actually mean?

Preparations for the so-called Feast of Love are once again in full swing, and Black Friday is the darkest harbinger of it. In the midst of this consumer noise, a beautiful word finds its way into the vocabulary of advertisers: preloved. Old love never rusts, as the old saying about love goes. It's no wonder, then, that a term that echoes the meaning of the saying is booming in the run-up to Christmas.

But please not in old German, but rather in catchy English: preloved. Doesn't mean new, but already loved, worn, used or seen and is usually pronounced slightly reproachfully and packed into headlines. The English preposition (pre) and the past participle (loved), it seems, demonstrate another wisdom of the German language: Doppel genäht hält besser.

Fast fashion and second hand are out

So it's not surprising that preloved is being pushed everywhere right now. In the media, in advertising, in department stores and on online platforms. The sharing economy has been conjured up for some time and accompanied by an English quote: Sharing is caring. But anyone who strolls through the city centers on Saturdays and observes people shopping or counts the cardboard boxes of online shopping at the side of the road may ask themselves what the caring really is.

Agreed, fast fashion was yesterday. Hardly anyone dares to buy Zara, H&M, Boohoo or whatever they're all called with a clear conscience anymore. But the things that are carried home or delivered in branded carrier bags and boxes are always new.

Recycling was also yesterday. Today, it's called upcycling. What is meant is the recycling of already used materials, which are transformed into new products. Unfortunately, this is difficult to do with fast-fashion rags, because their production is already harmful to the environment and their remains end up in repositories such as the Atacama Desert in northern Chile or in Africa and Southeast Asia instead of being upcycled.

Secondhand was also yesterday. For decades, the term was able to hold its own, even though there was always something slightly grubby about it. Second hand? Even from someone you didn't know? Not everyone's cup of tea. But preloved? As a consumer, you melt from so much love and perhaps think to yourself: "If only I hadn't brought that old thing to the clothing collection or the incinerator, then I wouldn't have had to pay so much for it. And it wouldn't have to be advertised again.