A growing number of people are buying used clothing, shoes and accessories, propelling the secondhand industry to $177 billion in global sales last year, according to a new report from online thrift marketplace ThredUp Inc.
“It’s clear resale is not a fad,” ThredUp co-founder and Chief Executive Officer James Reinhart told Bloomberg Green in an interview. While consumers cite the value that underpins secondhand shopping, Reinhart said brands also see resale in particular as increasingly crucial for their sustainability agenda. “When I talk to brands today, it’s not a question if they will be involved in resale — it’s about how,” he said.
The shoppers most attracted to resale are members of younger generations, mainly Gen Z. According to a GlobalData Survey of roughly 3,000 US adults, 83% of Gen Z respondents said they had already shopped secondhand for clothes or were open to it. “It’s definitely a young-people sport,” Reinhart said.
That same cohort of consumers has largely fueled the rise of fast and ultra-fast fashion, which helps explain why even major fast fashion companies are now embracing selling secondhand in stores and online. Shein, a Chinese retailer that has helped supercharge the fast fashion model, got into resale last year with its Shein Exchange site. In March, Hennes & Mauritz AB announced it was launching an online resale platform with ThredUp, and H&M has in recent annual reports said it expects climate-aware consumers to prefer more sustainable products in the future. That potential shift in consumer preferences, per the company, could be a big hit to future sales or, quite possibly, an opportunity.
