According to a report released by First Insight and the Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Gen Z leads the way in sustainability and has an outsize impact on older generations, especially their Gen X parents.
Second-hand shopping is becoming a global phenomenon led by North America, with the US second-hand market expected to more than double by 2026, reaching the US $ 82 billion. That follows a record growth year in 2021 for second-hand, up by 32 percent.
Technology and online marketplaces pose as the key growth drivers of the US second-hand market – in fact, 50 percent of total second-hand dollars are expected to come from online resale by 2024.
The demand for second-hand or pre-loved products is surging: industry watchers predict an annual growth rate of 10-15 percent over the next decade, owing to the success of specialized digital trading marketplaces, fuelled by growing consumer and investor demand for more sustainable apparel alternatives.
Online resale platform ThredUp in partnership with GlobalData, has revealed in its 2022 Resale Report that the global second-hand apparel market is expected to grow by 127 percent by 2026 – more than three times faster than the global apparel market overall.
With such rich rewards up for the taking, designers and brands are eyeing the market with interest, with some taking steps to invest in the concept. Others remain cautious with valuable brand identities as well as margins to protect. So there’s good reason to think carefully about the long-term payoffs of the resale sector.
at Apparel Resources.
