What: The resale market is getting at the same time more competitive, upmarket and faces sourcing difficulties.

Why it is important: Now that department stores are embracing the trend, if second-hand does not rhyme anymore with cheap, but is perceived as legitimately priced near the brand new items’ prices, it could be an opportunity for normalization, full integration of the corners in the stores operations and, ultimately, a possibility to achieve sustainable margins, which is still not the case today (many department stores see second hand as a marketing move more than anything else).

The Robin Report takes a close look at the state of the resale market and the issues it is currently facing.

Resale supply has skyrocketed post-Covid, as customers took the opportunity to empty their closets, enabling secondhand retailers to stock up with a wide range of options, from the cheapest items to second hand luxury items. This helped fuelling a market which is bound to reach $77m in the next five years.

However, it seems that second-hand retailers are now facing both difficulties to find new supplies, and criticism on the fact that now, “preloved” items do not necessarily equate with cheap prices (some second-hand items are even almost on a similar price point to the same products, brand new, a phenomenon that has been created by the supply chain shortage worldwide), leading to the exclusion, de facto, of the lower class of customers who used to rely on this channel to dress themselves.

ThredUp is now moving upmarket, by making deals with Gap, Stella McCarney, Vestiaire collective and others, to prevent its brand from going down market. In that perspective, it is also following the strategic moves made by Poshmark and The RealReal.

No Clothes in the Resale Closet