This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.
Author: Sebastian Ko, Co-founder/COO, DHB Global
One person’s trash can be another’s treasure, as the saying goes. And now one of the fashion industry’s fastest-growing sectors is helping prove that point.
The secondhand clothes market in the United States has grown 21 times faster than retail sales of new clothing over the past three years. It’s currently worth in the region of $24 billion and is expected to reach $51 billion by the middle of the next decade.
For many, buying secondhand clothes used to have a stigma attached: you shopped in charity shops and thrift stores when you had no alternative. Not any more. The resale market for secondhand fashion is a runaway success and it seems everyone is getting in on the act.
Phenomenal growth
According to Neil Saunders, GlobalData Managing Director & Lead Market Analyst for fashion resale website thredUP’s 2019 Resale Report: “Compared to the overall apparel market, resale’s growth has been phenomenal. As the market uniquely meets consumers’ preference for variety, value, and sustainability, we expect the high growth to continue.”
ThredUP’s research found that at all price levels in the sector a consistent proportion of shoppers are buying secondhand. At the luxury retail end, 26% also buy resale items. In the mid-market, it stands at 25% and 22% at the discount end.
Millennials are the most likely age group to embrace the trend, closely followed by boomers – with 33% and 31% respectively buying secondhand. The generation stuck between those two, Gen X, is a long way behind at 20%, with Gen Z, the new kids on the block, at 16%.
But it’s the Gen Z crowd where most growth is expected. One in three people aged 18-24 are forecast to buy secondhand items this year, making them the resale world’s biggest fans.
Online revolution
The growing interest in secondhand has been driven by a combination of things. One is technology, with online marketplaces allowing people to buy and sell pre-owned goods, including clothes. A new niche of micro-retailers has sprung up, dealing exclusively on the internet, and not just selling items they own, but buying in stock from other sources too: eBay, Houzz and Etsy are some of the better-known examples.
The rise of the conscious consumer is another major factor. Environmentalism has gone mainstream, informing people’s attitudes to the food they eat, how they travel and now the clothes they wear too.
ThredUP found 72% of consumers are more likely to buy from environmentally friendly sources. But while eco-fashion can come at a price – one of Stella McCartney’s recycled nylon tote bags will set you back almost $590 – the secondhand sector is offering a wider audience the chance to get involved.
If an item of clothing – or a bag or a pair of shoes – is kept in use and in circulation, the demand for new sales falls. The fashion industry’s raw materials consume vast amounts of resources and leave behind huge levels of pollution and emissions – around 20% of the world’s wastewater comes from the fashion industry. It is also expected to be responsible for 25% of the global carbon budget by 2050.
Retail evolution
For the retail industry, the booming secondhand sector is the latest in a run of recent challenges. The number of vacant stores in US shopping malls now stands at an eight-year high, with high-profile brands like Gap and Victoria’s Secret closing stores this year as the so-called retail apocalypse bites deep [. . .]
The Most Revolutionary Act 
I cannot tell you the last time I bought clothes. It was when I still lived in Minnesota and believe me, I quite long for those thrift stores and consignment shops in Minnesota. You could get everything in those places. Me? Buy something new other than shoes? HA! Right! And I only have two pairs of shoes; one pair for everyday and another pair for going out, that’s it! And both pair were purchased so many years ago, I can’t even remember when I bought them. I am so NOT high maintenance.
And this goes well beyond just clothing. My sister completely furnished her townhouse from an antique store and her house is beautiful. Me? I don’t care what I’ve got because I’m too busy moving anyway, giving furniture away and buying second hand when I get to where I’m going. I am capitalism’s worse nightmare! Would that others would follow suit.
Great post!
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In our grandparents generation, Shelby, everything was built to last and nothing was thrown away because they lived through the Great Depression. Then in the 50s and 60s, the corporate elite decided they weren’t making enough profit and they used public relations to retrain people to throw everything away when they got bored with it.
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” Great use of a good, sometimes great product. And, growing up, I often wore and donated clothing. Hand-me-downs.
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And it’s great for the environment, marblenecltr.
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Great news!
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isn’t it, Rosaliene? It’s so good to see young people especially breaking away from throwaway culture.
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I am on my way to make a donation today. I always buy used.
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I’ve always loved secondhand clothes, Trace. When I used to buy clothes off the rack, they never fit. In most cases, the stuff you get secondhand fit and most likely looked good on someone else.
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It is really sad to me more people don’t shop second hand.
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Tubularsock’s wears mostly second/third hand clothing just because it is so easy. And most of the time it is FREE to be taken from a box of clothes sitting on the curb.
And Tubularsock is not speaking about “junk” or worn out clothes. Tubularsock is talking about Fancy Brand Name clothing. And on top of that it is sitting washed and folded for the taking!
But that isn’t the only thing ………….. Tubularsock could take his pickup truck out and in an afternoon collect enough “like new” furniture to furnish a house! The selection is outrageous! And it could be done DAILY!
And if you wish to wait for the University of California, Berkeley to end its semester the bounty of furnishing left curbside for the taking could easily furnish two dozen houses or more in a weeks time. And this is not an exaggeration, but it is amazing.
We live in a throw away economy and our usable waste is staggering.
Tubularsock doesn’t have the time here but there is a story to be told about what can be “found” if you become lucky enough to be able to work as a dump scavenger. Unbelievable!
Cheers.
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Same here, Tube. I have never bought new furniture. The new stuff just doesn’t look right somehow.
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Great use of a good, sometimes great product. And, growing up, I often wore and donated clothing.
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I still wear donated clothing, Steve. I find myself unable to support the modern garment industry due to the brutal way they exploit Third World workers.
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