Global Secondhand Apparel Market to Hit $350 Billion by 2028, According to New Report

A new report from Thredup found that the global secondhand apparel market will continue to balloon, reaching as much as $350 billion in merchandise value by 2028, at a CAGR of 12% per year.

The online consignment platform published its yearly deep dive into fashion resale trends (conducted with third-party retail analytics firm GlobalData) on Wednesday, and once again found the market grew 18% globally in 2023 (three times faster than the overall apparel market) to a total of $197 billion. In the United States specifically, it grew by 11% (seven times faster than the broader retail clothing market) and is expected to reach $73 billion by 2028.

Graphic: Courtesy of Thredup

By 2025, about 10% of the total global apparel market is expected to be made up of secondhand sales, with online resale making up half of all secondhand spend by then. It also projects that resale will grow six times faster than off-price (i.e. outlets and discount retailers) by 2033.

Online shopping represents a big piece of the secondhand puzzle: Thredup found that 63% of customers who shopped for apparel secondhand in 2023 did so online (up 17% from the previous year), and that 45% of Gen Z and millennials prefer to do so online.

Graphic: Courtesy of Thredup

And increasingly, these sales are being driven by brands' own resale programs, not just big marketplaces.

"[This] is why you're seeing continued momentum around brands launching new programs, with 30% year-over-year growth in 2023," Thredup CEO and Co-Founder James Reinhart writes over e-mail, referring to a growing trend of branded resale. "We've spoken with hundreds of apparel brands over the years, and it's been encouraging to witness the conversation shift from why a retailer should get into resale to how they can make resale work for their brand."

Many fashion brands — Levi's, Kate Spade, J. Crew and Oscar de la Renta, to name a few — have launched their own resale programs in recent years, offering incentives to shoppers who both sell and shop. Not only can this fuel a company's sustainability goals, but it can also help acquire more customers and generate more revenue, per Reinhart. (It's worth noting, of course, that Thredup powers resale programs for many of these brands.)

Graphic: Courtesy of Thredup

"Concerns around product cannibalization or brand dilution are becoming less of a deterrent," he says. "The future of branded resale is bright, and the retailers that will find the most success are the ones who understand that their customers are shopping secondhand and who take the time to figure out how to deliver a resale experience that lives seamlessly alongside their new product."

Thredup also compiled a list of the best brands in resale, based on sell-through and volume of sold items on its platform on 2023. It also published a list of rising stars in resale, based on year-over-year increases in sell-through rates and volume of listed items on the site.

Thredup's Best Brands in Resale in 2023

1. Lululemon

2. Patagonia

3. Vuori

4. Reformation

5. Free People

6. Zara

7. Johhny Was

8. Sézane

9. Anthropologie

10. Skims

Thredup's Rising Stars in Resale in 2023

1. Aritzia

2. Spanx

3. Outdoor Voices

4. Rag & Bone

5. Liverpool Los Angeles

6. Mango

7. Show Me Your Mumu

8. Vans

9. J. McLaughlin

10. Nic + Zoe

Find the full report here.

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