thredUP Releases 7th Annual Resale Report
Today thredUP, the world’s largest fashion resale destination, released the 2019 Resale Report. This state-of-the-industry study is conducted annually in partnership with GlobalData, the third-party research and analytics firm, to examine the trends and trajectory of the $24B resale apparel market. This year’s Resale Report includes a special section on the Circular Economy by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s ‘Make Fashion Circular’ team.
“The last few years of growth in resale have been driven by early adopters, but now skeptics are coming around in droves. The ‘resale customer’ is no longer a niche group — it’s everyone. As the line between new and used apparel blurs for consumers, a powerful transformation in retail will unfold. This report is a chance to contextualize that evolution, and provide a glimpse into the leading role resale will play in closets of the future.” — James Reinhart, Founder and CEO of thredUP
Excerpts from the Report:
The secondhand apparel market is big & growing.
The total secondhand market is $24B today, projected to double, reaching $51B in 5 years.
56M women bought secondhand products last year, up from 44M in 2017, an increase of 12M new secondhand shoppers.
51% of resale shoppers plan to spend more on secondhand in the next five years.
The social media generation fuels resale’s growth.
Millennials & Gen Zs are adopting secondhand 2.5X faster than average. 1/3 of Gen Zs will buy secondhand in 2019.
With a craving to be seen in constantly new styles for social media, 56% of 18–29 year olds prefer retailers that offer new arrivals upon every visit.
74% of Millennials & Gen Zs prefer to buy from sustainably conscious brands — so resale powers the Insta wardrobe-refresh, without eco guilt.
Secondhand, rental and subscription are the top 3 fastest growing retail categories — as a younger generations craves “freshness.”
Resale & Kondo spark end of long-term ownership.
As consumers use resale to power wardrobe rotation instead of accumulation, they own 28 fewer items on average than 2 years ago.
If 1 in 10 Netflix subscribers Kondo’d, it would generate 667M pounds of textile waste. Resale turns that waste into a bargain hunters paradise.
thredUP saw an 80% spike in Clean Out kits when the show first aired.
Special ‘Circular Fashion’ Section by the Ellen McArthur Foundation:
The textile waste crisis accelerating: textiles will account for 25% of the global carbon budget by 2050.
We’re buying twice as much clothing and wearing it half as long.
By doubling the average number of time a piece of clothing is worn (ie through resale) you reduce the GHG emissions by 40%.
Resale is stealing retail share — esp. from Fast Fashion.
Resale has grown 21X faster than apparel retail over the past 3 years.
72% of secondhand shoppers shifted spend away from traditional retailers to buy more used items.
Secondhand is projected to be 1.5X the size of fast fashion within 10 years. Consumers are attracted to closet-flipping without waste, as well as swapping disposable fashion for higher quality / better brands for less.
A new ‘Retail x Resale’ model is emerging.
Nearly 1/3 consumers said they would spend more with their favorite retailers if those retailers also sold secondhand apparel.
60% of consumers said they would be more loyal to a brand if a recycling program was offered.
96% of Senior Retail Executives surveyed want to get into Circular Fashion by 2020, and 87% want to explore resale specifically.
More in the Report:
thredUP’s “Resale Value Rankings” show the impact of celeb endorsement.
How Circular Fashion pioneers are creating a sustainable fashion future.
And much more…
About thredUP: Forget everything you know about used clothing and join millions of consumers in a resale revolution. thredUP is the world’s largest fashion resale marketplace, designed to save the planet and your wallet from waste. The company makes selling your clothes a cinch, and resells 35,000 brands — from GAP to Gucci — at up to 90% off retail prices. Backed by world-class investors, thredUP is reinventing resale with cutting edge technology and logistics, shattering stigmas and converting skeptics — all while paving the way for a more sustainable fashion future. The magic happens behind-the-scenes in thredUP’s automated ‘Upcycle Centers,’ which have priced, photographed and resold 65M unique garments from closets across America. With further expansions to physical stores, “try-before-you-buy” Goody Boxes, and RAAS (Resale-As-A-Service), thredUP is ushering in a Circular Fashion future, and inspiring a new generation to think secondhand first.