ThredUp released its 11th resale report on Wednesday detailing the tribulations of resale over the past year.
With online leading the charge, the global secondhand market is set to nearly double by 2027, reaching $350 billion, according to market data by GlobalData for ThredUp. The U.S. secondhand market is expected to reach $70 billion by 2027.
Pointing it to the report’s global findings, ThredUp president Anthony Marino underscored to WWD, “It’s clear that [resale] is not a niche-y flash in the pan — it’s a mainstay of consumer retail.”
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Today, more than half (52 percent) of U.S. consumers shopped secondhand apparel in 2022. One in three apparel items bought in the last 12 months was secondhand, and two in five items in Gen Z’s closet are secondhand. That being said, Gen Z is also a generation being courted by the latest guard of fast-fashion giants, among them Shein (which entered resale last year).
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“These big, super-polluting fast-fashion businesses are getting consumers addicted,” Marino said. “The same shoppers that want to pursue more resale are saying they are ‘addicted to the fast-fashion drug’ and need help.”
Marino called it a “real call-to-action for resale,” adding that fast fashion raises the bar for resellers like ThredUp to improve merchandising assortment, pricing and delivery times to remain competitive.
Some of the steps Marino outlined point to how the company looks to streamline capacity and improve its standing. “We’ve been really consistent in communicating to investors that we will achieve profitability in the second half of this year,” he added.
Retailers are tasked with changes, too, with resale driving ROI and investor approval in many cases.
Some 58 percent of retail executives consider resale “table stakes,” which is a six-point increase from 2021. With that, 86 percent of retail executives say their customers are already participating in resale, up eight points from 2021. This survey from GlobalData looked at the top 50 U.S. brands and retailers. Last year, 88 brands launched dedicated resale programs, which is a 244 percent increase from 2021.
“Our number-one goal is to help them make money in the resale business,” Marino said. “If a brand or retailer can answer clearly what their goal is then that [determines] a marketing partnership [from] a resale business that can be large and profitable.”
Along with the report, the resale platform dropped its latest “Fashion Footprint Calculator” on Wednesday, showcasing environmental savings in secondhand.
WWD asked how the calculator is tasked to take on the European Commission’s new proposed green claims directive. “We’ve researched extensively and worked with third parties to assure it’s highly defensible and quantitative,” he said. “We’re sure we are going to continue to learn more and work with government organizations….If I were to make one prediction, the government’s role in getting involved and providing incentives is going to be a powerful driver for this market over the next 10-plus years.”