thredUP Purge Surge: Spring Cleaning Edition
March 10, 2017 — Every year, thredUP prepares for a spring cleaning surge, when women across the country refresh their closets and ship out their once-loved items to find new homes. With 14M items sent to thredUP annually, the secondhand marketplace has the inside scoop on which brands and styles are on the rebound versus those that are being retired.
“Women sell to thredUP all year long, but we certainly see a spike in volume around spring cleaning,” says Kathleen Weng, VP of Merchandising at thredUP. “However, we’ve learned seller motivations aren’t just about decluttering, but more so about refreshing their style and finding new favorites. We also see an increase in shopping this time of year.”
This year, thredUP has surfaced two “Purge Surge” lists, which highlight the brands and styles that saw the highest increase in rate at which they were sold to thredUP in 2016. The results fall into one of two categories:
(1) brand and styles that are on the fashion downtrend, meaning people are retiring those items for good.
(2) brands and styles that have grown in retail popularity, meaning overall volume to sell has increased.
While all of these brands and styles are shoppable on thredUP, about 40% of items sent are then listed for purchase based on quality, with a lower percentage being listed among “downtrend” items.
MOST PURGED BRANDS
These brands saw the biggest “purge surge,” or increase in the rate at which items are being sold to thredUP.*
MOST PURGED STYLES
These 5 styles saw the biggest “purge surge,” or increase in the rate at which items are being sold to thredUP.
#1. Chambray: 763% purge increase
#2. Glitter: 446% purge increase
#3. Maxi dress: 277% purge increase
#4. Pencil Skirts: 245% purge increase
#5. High/low: up 208% purge increase
GENERAL SPRING CLEANING STATS
- thredUP data shows that the height of Spring Cleaning is Feb 15 to March 28.
- During this time period last year, thredUP saw a 67% increase in items sent.
- Last year, roughly 125K “Clean Out” bags were sent to thredUP in that month.
*Source: thredUP internal data from Spring 2015 — Spring 2016