The scale will reach 77 billion US dollars! Can the second-hand fashion market also become a blue ocean?

Foreign media reported that according to the 2021 Resale Report released by the second-hand platform ThredUp on Wednesday, the size of the second-hand market is expected to more than double to US$77 billion in the next five years, driven largely by consumers' shift towards a sustainable spirit.

The report said the secondhand market reached $36 billion in 2020 alone , including resale goods ($11 billion) and traditional second-hand and donated items ( $21 billion).

Citing the pandemic, the report noted that 33 million consumers bought secondhand clothing for the first time last year. The average thrifter bought about seven secondhand items — items they would normally buy new. That replaced more than 542 million new garments, ThredUp said.

What's more, 223 million people said they had purchased or were willing to purchase a used product in 2020. The pandemic certainly helped drive demand for used goods, with one in two consumers saying they turned to the secondhand market to save money, ThredUp noted .

Retailers are also thinking about resale. The report, which surveyed 3,500 Americans in March and April, found that 42% of retail executives said resale would be a significant part of their business in the next five years.

“We are in the early innings of a radical transformation in retail , ” said James Reinhart, co-founder and CEO of ThredUp, in the report . “Consumers are prioritizing product sustainability, and retailers are beginning to embrace resale as part of the circular economy. ”

And ThredUp itself has benefited from the growing appetite for the secondhand market . The company went public in March , raising $168 million , and its online shopping platform had $186 million in revenue last fiscal year and 1.2 million active buyers .

Millennials and Gen Z are leading the way in secondhand shopping. The report found that 53% of these generations said they plan to spend more on secondhand items in the next five years. At the same time, 45% of Millennials and Gen Z will not buy from retailers and brands that are not sustainable.

The ThredUp report points out that buying new items and buying used items have obvious impacts on the environment . The prospects of the second-hand market are not only reflected in the economy, but also in the great significance of global environmental protection.

Second-hand market

2021 Resale Report

Online Shopping