One could not want charts and graphs at this level to know that, up to now couple of years particularly, the shopping for and promoting of used garments has grow to be mainstream. Any stigma that after got here with thrifting pre-worn items has virtually disappeared. Thredup, Poshmark and The Actual Actual have all gone public. The idea has been confirmed.
Nonetheless, for the previous 5 years, Thredup has been monitoring and projecting the expansion of the secondhand clothes market, releasing annual experiences carried out in partnership with third-party analysis and analytics agency GlobalData. The corporate simply launched its 2021 Resale Report, full with loads of staggering figures — it is nonetheless one of many fastest-growing segments of retail, projected to double to $77 billion by 2025 — in addition to some new insights on how resale fares when there is a world pandemic. (As Thredup predicted one yr in the past, it fares fairly effectively.)
Photograph: Courtesy of Thredup
Evidently, the pandemic birthed hundreds of thousands of latest secondhand consumers: 33 million customers purchased secondhand attire for the primary time in 2020. And in line with surveys, 76% of these first-timers plan to extend their spend on secondhand within the subsequent 5 years. In different phrases, the pandemic could have helped speed up the expansion of vogue resale even additional. It additionally created extra resellers: There have been an estimated 36.2 million first-time sellers in 2020.
As we have coated, the pandemic modified our mindsets round procuring in a number of methods. And the brand new “post-pandemic client” has been a boon to the secondhand market, in line with Thredup’s report, which discovered {that a} third of customers care extra about carrying sustainable attire than they did earlier than the pandemic, and that half of customers care extra about worth than earlier than the pandemic. The report additionally discovered that 43% of customers care extra about clothes high quality than they used to (implying they need objects they’re going to be capable to resell slightly than eliminate) and that over 50% care extra about avoiding waste than they did earlier than.
Photograph: Courtesy of Thredup
Thredup additionally highlighted the post-pandemic procuring habits of moms: One in two mothers with younger children plans to spend extra on secondhand within the subsequent 5 years, representing an even bigger “shift to thrift” than every other client group, in line with the report.
The primary motivators for folks to buy secondhand are saving cash and decreasing environmental impression, however secondhand shops aren’t their solely choices to succeed in these targets. They might store from a fast-fashion retailer or a reduction chain to save cash; they may hire garments or purchase sustainably-made new garments to cut back environmental impression. Whereas off-price and fast-fashion retail remains to be rising, it is doing so extra slowly than resale and rental, and Thredup discovered that demand for brand new clothes marketed as “sustainable” is declining as effectively: 42% of customers plan to spend extra on secondhand clothes within the subsequent 5 years, whereas solely 26% plan to spend extra on “sustainable” new garments.
Photograph: Courtesy of Thredup
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As a lot as resale has grow to be a mainstay of our procuring lives, there’s nonetheless extra market share for Thredup and its opponents to seize. Thredup estimates that 9 billion clothes objects are sitting idly in customers’ closets, and that 34 billion are thrown away within the U.S. every year — 95% of which could possibly be recycled or reused.
So, except for altering customers’ mindsets, what must occur to get these garments into the resale market? Thredup factors to getting extra major market retailers and types incorporating resale into their methods (i.e. shopping for again and reselling their very own used items) or incentivizing client to recycle their wares indirectly. (Thredup powers resale for 21 manufacturers and retailers, like Hole and Reformation.)
Photograph: Courtesy of Thredup
Authorities coverage incentives may additionally drive extra adoption of round vogue: Think about if retail firms received tax breaks for investing in resale, or if customers did not must pay gross sales tax on secondhand clothes.
Photograph: Courtesy of Thredup
Thredup likes to additionally share what number of clothes objects it helps divert away from landfills by reselling, however this yr, notably, it additionally delivered some info and figures round its personal inner sustainability practices.
Each retail firm — even one which sells used garments — has a major environmental footprint by advantage of working amenities and the delivery and receiving of products. The report additionally touched on office range, proven under. May Thredup share extra of those particulars? Certain. Is that this at the least a step in the fitting course? Undoubtedly.
Photograph: Courtesy of Thredup
You may view the total 2021 Resale Report right here.
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