A Surge in Secondhand Clothing
About once a week, Emily Davidson embarks on a familiar routine: she goes grocery shopping, with her two toddlers in tow, and then hits up a thrift store. “I have my kids trained to think it’s a treasure hunt,” she says. “We go to the book and toy section of the store last so they behave.”
Davidson, who lives in Rose City, Mich., has been a resale market devotee since she was a child, when she and her sister would hang around an auction house where her mother worked at the front desk. These days, she doesn’t just shop for clothes for her family, but also for her burgeoning upcycling business, for which she takes baby blankets, quilts, and tablecloths, and turns them into eclectic hoodies, sweaters, and jackets. “I wanted to be more sustainable and not buy new clothing if possible,” Davidson says. “Then I thought, ‘I can do more by making new products by upcycling.’”
She’s not the only consumer who’s getting creative with thrifting. The U.S. resale market has grown rapidly in recent years, totaling $43 billion in 2023, up from $23 billion in 2018 – and is projected to hit $73 billion by 2028, according to online consignment store ThredUp’s most recent resale report.
Variety of Motivations
The top reason consumers purchase used clothing is to get a good deal; 44% of shoppers in the resale report said they’re cutting back on clothing spending as prices and inflation climb. Thrift store shoppers save an average of $1,760 a year, according to Capital One – though many resale shoppers of late have been complaining that even Goodwill prices have skyrocketed. As one thrifter lamented on Reddit, “I don’t want to pay $25 for used fleeces, even if they are L.L.Bean. It’s still 10 years old and stained.”
Others are focused on purchasing used apparel and goods for environmental purposes, hoping to lessen their environmental footprint or slow down the rapid cycle of fast fashion – which has also driven consumers to want to find more unique items to wear. More than 80% of Gen Z has shopped or are open to buying secondhand apparel, often to find something unique, compared to 58% of all consumers.
“All demographics and classes are thrifting,” says Lynda Grose, professor of fashion design at California College of the Arts and a former board member of Goodwill of San Francisco Bay. “There’s less of a stigma nowadays among working class shoppers, and a pride in thrifting.”
Access to resale has widened beyond local Goodwill stores, with a deluge of online platforms such as PoshMark, ThredUp, and The RealReal peddling goods. (It should be noted, however, that many of them have struggled to turn a profit.) Today there are more than 25,000 resale shops in the U.S., according to Capital One. Winmark Corp., the parent company to resellers Plato’s Closet, Once Upon a Child, and Play It Again Sports, has 1,327 franchises operating in the U.S. and Canada, up from 1,250 five years ago.
More Options, But A Harder Treasure Hunt
The thrill of finding a one-of-a-kind something has kept Alex Martin, who lives in New York, NY, as a resale devotee for decades. Her top finds include a century-old silk-velvet opera coat, a satin Dior trench coat, and a Persian lamb evening jacket dusted with sequins, still boasting a tag from a Paris couturier.
“Some of my favorite things I wear are ones I bought at vintage stores, charity stores, and eBay, back in the old days,” she says. Martin admits it was the search for unique or special items that always motivated her. “I was born in the wrong decade,” she says. “Clothes and accessories used to have more character and the quality was excellent, even among unknown names.”
Finding unique items has become harder as competition proliferates and resale stores are flooded with fast-fashion brands, which some shoppers say dilutes the quality of resale in general. “The sheer volume of stuff that’s coming into resale and thrift stores is difficult to process,” says Grose. She estimates only about 30% of the clothing that comes through thrift stores is put up for resale.
Many online forums lament the picked-over state of stores, particularly in large cities known for thrifting, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. Davidson says she’s learned to pay attention to RN numbers, which tell you who the manufacturer or importer was, allowing you to research their quality track records. “Ten years ago, I’d go to a thrift store and have a cartful of stuff,” she says, adding that she has better luck with church-affiliated resale stores where elderly people donate more unique items than big-chain thrift stores. “Now I may find one or two things when I go.”
Indeed, some of the hottest resale items on the market these days are from contemporary, well-known brands, such as handbags by Tory Burch and Vera Bradley, the infamous Lululemon belt bag, Patagonia outerwear, and dresses by Sezane, Hill House, and Reformation, according to ThredUp.
Martin, meanwhile, pays attention to details on apparel, like hand-stitched hems, unique buttons or embellishments such as beading, and unusual fabrics to denote quality pieces. Grose tries to shop in person as much as possible so she can feel the weight of a bracelet or ring, or a pair of Levi 501s or Carhartts to judge its quality.
Brands Jump on the Bandwagon
The success of resale stores has led many brands to launch their own resale businesses as a way to acquire more customers and be more sustainable. Nearly two out of three retailers who provide resale programs say the strategy is integral for long-term growth. Patagonia’s Worn Wear program, for example, gives people who bring in worn Patagonia clothing up to $100 per item to be used on its secondhand site. It also runs a Recrafted program, which uses multiple Patagonia items that can’t be repaired to make a new, upcycled product. Eileen Fisher’s Renew resell vertical lets customers mail or bring in used Eileen Fisher clothing and receive a $5 gift certificate. The company then cleans the pieces and sells them online, at average discounts of 50% of new prices.
While the resale market’s growth continues to hit double digits, retail analysts say the largest risk to the industry is a softening demand that could put downward pressure on revenue. Still, for many people, the thrill of the hunt will always be exciting. “Finding something beautiful, unusual, and in great, wearable condition is the trifecta,” Martin says. “Now, I can justify my habit by saying I’m doing it for the environment.”
Sidebar: A Guide to Resale Fashion Speak
Resale: A general term for the secondhand and thrift market that includes apparel, electronics and home goods.
Thrifting: A more general term denoting hunting for items that aren’t curated, i.e., rummaging through goods at charity- and cause-related shops like Goodwill or Salvation Army.
Consignment: When an individual brings a piece of clothing to a thrift store or resale seller and gets a percentage of the sale. Many consignment stores are curated.
Vintage: A distinct, iconic style garment of a particular decade that’s usually at least several decades old, such as circle skirts, work-wear jackets, and flapper dresses.
Upcycle: To take used or discarded clothing and turn it into something of higher value.
Source: Lynda Grose, professor of fashion design at California College of the Arts.