The secondhand market, while not new—dating back to the Salvation Army’s founding in 1865—is experiencing a resurgence. Driven by the fashion industry’s need to lessen its environmental impact and surplus inventory, luxury and outdoor brands are actively embracing “re-commerce.”
Many leading companies are adopting resale, repair, and rental programs to prolong the lifespan of clothing, minimize waste, and reduce their carbon footprint. Some luxury brands, such as Rolex, are establishing their own used goods platforms, while others are partnering with online secondhand retailers. Numerous prominent brands have joined established consignment platforms to authenticate and sell their pre-owned products.
Examples include Athleta’s 2022 collaboration with thredUp on a “Preloved” marketplace offering store credit for resold items, and which launched a microsite in 2020 featuring authenticated secondhand products in partnership with The RealReal.
“Luxury brands have recognized this as a business opportunity, a path toward greater environmental responsibility than simply producing new items,” explains Peter Semple, Depop’s chief marketing officer. Depop, a secondhand online marketplace with 35 million users, has played a key role in introducing numerous luxury brands to the secondhand market.
Semple credits Depop with bringing many of these luxury brands into the fold of the second-hand market. In 2019, the company took over Ralph Lauren’s flagship store in London for a three-month residency, during which users curated vintage pieces from the designer’s past collections. Subsequent partnerships followed with Adidas and Benetton.
Other brands are designing products with resale in mind from the outset. For its Spring 2023 line, incorporated unique serial numbers into all its products. Customers can scan these IDs to easily list items on Vestiaire Collective, an online secondhand marketplace.
“This technology offers traceability throughout the product lifecycle—enabling informed purchasing decisions, providing care and repair instructions, and offering direct resale options, thus extending product lifespan,” the company stated in its 2023 year-end review.
These brands represent a shift in the luxury sector, which traditionally prioritized prestige over sustainability. Many premium brands tightly control the supply of their pre-owned products to maintain brand value and pricing. However, some luxury brands view pre-owned goods as a means to regain control over the quality, authenticity, and pricing of their merchandise on the secondhand market. Effectively implemented, these initiatives offer a viable path toward decarbonization by reducing consumer demand for new products.
Currently, only 1% of products are recycled within the fashion industry’s value chain, according to a 2020 study. However, circular strategies such as resale could reduce the need for new production by one-third and lower annual carbon emissions for premium and outdoor brands by up to 16% by 2040, according to a Worldly study. Circular business models, encompassing rentals, re-commerce, repair, and refurbishment, could cut approximately 143 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, according to McKinsey.
These efforts could significantly decarbonize a highly polluting industry, responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions—exceeding the combined emissions of aviation and shipping.
Resale appeals to younger consumers increasingly conscious of the industry’s environmental impact and resistant to fast fashion.
Nora Hogerty, a 25-year-old PR agent, learned to value sustainable fashion from thrifting with her mother. Today, 75% of her wardrobe is secondhand, largely purchased online. “There’s so much waste and so many clothes,” she observes. “People are seeking excitement in a different kind of shopping.”
Aemilia Madden, a New York City writer, needed a black dress for a wedding and avoided buying a cheap, disposable option. Instead, she found an authenticated Tove silk dress on The RealReal for under $200. “Secondhand shopping allows participation in fashion without contributing to the same level of waste,” Madden says. “I hope this approach keeps items out of landfills and reduces production.”
Other brands incentivize product care and repair. Outdoor brands, known for their return policies, are now providing repair instructions. Patagonia launched repair tutorials, and REI offers cleaning guides for outdoor gear.
However, experts emphasize the need for reduced overall consumption. The fashion industry produces 100 billion garments annually, and consumers buy 60% more clothing than 25 years ago. “If a brand’s model still relies on increasing product output, even with these initiatives, it misses the mark because there’s already an overabundance of products,” says Delphine Williot of Fashion Revolution.
Sustainability initiatives are ineffective without curbing production growth. “A truly circular brand prioritizes repair and recycling over increasing product volume,” Williot concludes.