Second hand is expected to double its market share in 10 years according to a resale report by thredUP
The successful second hand resale platform thredUP has recently launched their annual resale report where they are highlighting the development of resale and second hand shopping where one of the promising findings is that second hand is expected to double its market share in 10 years.
But before we go into the details of the report we would like to tell you a few more things about thredUP. It was founded in 2009 by the CEO James Reinhart and is today one of the largest resale platforms of women’s and children’s apparel, shoes and accessories. Their operating platform are handling 100 000 items per day, connecting sellers and buyers towards a more circular usage of fashion. More than 35 000 brands have been sold on the platform and they’re constantly launching new campaigns to spread consumer awareness to make more people choose second hand first hand. One way of doing this is the Fashion Footprint Calculator and their brand collaboration’s of up-cycling clothes. They have more than 600 000 followers on Instagram and are based in the USA.
Their annual resale report, launched for the fourth time, is summarising some of the current trends in resale. The foreword tells us about the growth of e-commerce and marketplace businesses happening before the pandemic that due to the pandemic has accelerated, which tells us that it’s online the largest change towards circular consumption will happen and need to happen if we want to create impact. The foreword also highlights the level of consciousness among the next generations of consumers, which should inspire for some optimism. A Sustainable Closet agrees, but are also very much aware of the low barriers for young people to access fast fashion and be influenced to consumerism by social media. Time will tell how much Gen Z are able to change the course of fashion consumption towards a more sustainable one.
Let’s take a look at some of the reports findings.
From 2019 to 2024 the growth of resale is expected to be 39% compared to traditional charity which is estimated to have a 6% growth.
Online second hand is expected to grow with 69% from 2019 to 2021.
50% of women are cleaning out their closet more than they were pre Covid (3500 respondents, global survey).
In 2019 resale grew 25 times faster than the broader retail sector.
44% of people plan to buy more second hand the upcoming 12 months (2000 respondents, global survey April 2020).
Resale is expected to be bigger than second hand by 2029.
80% of Gen Z (24 years or younger) says there’s no stigma in second hand shopping and they are driving the change.
If you want to create a successful business and contribute to a more sustainable consumption of clothes, resale seems to be the way. If you want to get in touch with similar platforms in Sweden, checkout our list of second hand online platforms here!