Love Island 2023: Tom Clare lands huge deal as eBay UK’s first male ambassador despite not winning series nine

Love Island star Tom Clare follows in Tasha Ghouri’s steps with huge eBay UK ambassador deal
Footballer Tom was in the dog house for a while but broke out after a cheesy love poem won Samie back and the pair now appear ready to make a go of it. Their night in the hideaway saw them move to second favourite to win the show and they have remained there since.Footballer Tom was in the dog house for a while but broke out after a cheesy love poem won Samie back and the pair now appear ready to make a go of it. Their night in the hideaway saw them move to second favourite to win the show and they have remained there since.
Footballer Tom was in the dog house for a while but broke out after a cheesy love poem won Samie back and the pair now appear ready to make a go of it. Their night in the hideaway saw them move to second favourite to win the show and they have remained there since.

Tom Clare has become the first series nine Love Island star to bag a huge brand deal with eBay.

The semi-professional footballer, 23, from Barnsley, came third place with his girlfriend Samie Elishi, also 23, after entering the villa in South Africa as a bombshell.

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He announced his collaboration with eBay in an Instagram post shared with his 439,000 followers.

“I’m buzzing to announce that I am @ebay_uk’s next pre-loved ambassador! In the villa I loved showcasing pre-loved fashion from eBay, and the number of brands available is unreal, allowing me to push my style comfort zone,” Tom said.

Tom is set to follow in the footsteps of former islander Tasha Ghouri, 24, who bagged herself the prestigious role, the year before.

Tasha became the brand’s first ever pre-loved ambassador and sustainable queen of fashion. She went on to promote the brand’s ethos and even launched her own exclusive collection on eBay where all the proceeds went to national hearing loss charity, RNID.

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By partnering up with eBay, Tom is hoping to kickstart the conversation about fast fashion in menswear. His new role will be similar to Tasha’s, creating edits with his favourite pre-loved clothes.

Footballer Tom was in the dog house for a while but broke out after a cheesy love poem won Samie back and the pair now appear ready to make a go of it. Their night in the hideaway saw them move to second favourite to win the show and they have remained there since.Footballer Tom was in the dog house for a while but broke out after a cheesy love poem won Samie back and the pair now appear ready to make a go of it. Their night in the hideaway saw them move to second favourite to win the show and they have remained there since.
Footballer Tom was in the dog house for a while but broke out after a cheesy love poem won Samie back and the pair now appear ready to make a go of it. Their night in the hideaway saw them move to second favourite to win the show and they have remained there since.

Talking about his new role, Tom Clare said: “I’ve always been into fashion and making sure the outfits I put together look good. Going into the villa I was buzzing as I knew there would be clothes in there from brands that I really love, like Reiss, Prada, Palace and COS. All the boys had so much fun getting ready in the evenings, going through eBay’s pre-loved shared wardrobe and chatting about what we were going to wear.

“I do really think wearing pre-loved gives you the chance to explore and create your own unique style - and by working with eBay I hope we can inspire more men to be more experimental in their fashion and pick pre-loved first.”

In the villa, Tom was famous for his unique take on updating outfits. He mixed paisley shirts with board shorts, bomber jackets with denim and didn’t shy away from pastels or beaded pearl necklaces and bracelets.

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Kirsty Keoghan, Global GM of Fashion at eBay said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Tom to expand the conversation around pre-loved into menswear. With Tom championing pre-loved in the villa night after night, it felt like a no-brainer for him to join Tasha in helping our mission to change the way consumers shop for clothes.

“It’s fantastic to see more of an interest in pre-loved menswear, with searches for men’s pre-loved clothing up almost 100% on eBay compared to last year, but there is still so much more to be done - regardless of our gender, we all have a part to play to slow down fashion.”

Posting on Instagram, Tom added: “Excited to be taking the pre-loved conversation into menswear and I will be launching my very own pre-loved edit very soon, so watch this space guys! 🙌”

Islanders and pre-loved fashion fanatics have flooded the post with comments.

Lana Jenkins said: “This is amazing Tom!! Congrats ❤️❤️”

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Lana’s boyfriend Ron Hall added: “UGE news, Congratulations big man! 🔥”

One fan said: “Putting pre-loved menswear on the map 📸 excited for what’s to come 🌟”

Another commented: “He’s a fashion icon 👏👏👏👏👏”