I don’t know when, our familiar clothing retailers have sneaked into the second-hand resale market.

In 2021 alone, many fashion and luxury brands crowded into the resale track one after another: in February, Alexander McQueen and vestiaire collective launched a clothing exchange shopping points repurchase program called “brand approved”; In July, Madewell and thredUP, a second-hand clothing platform, jointly announced the official launch of the second-hand cowboy consignment website “Madewell forever”; In August, Urban Outfitters created its own resale platform, where people can buy and sell clothes of this brand and even other brands

When fashion pays more and more attention to resale, even the word “second-hand” has become fashionable. Fashion brands have always been moved by the wind. Behind the resale plan, they just finally realize that second-hand clothing is a hidden big business in terms of commercial value and environmental value. The 2021 resale report released by thredUP shows that the resale industry will be one of the fastest growing segments of the retail industry. In the next five years, the secondary market value is expected to double from US $36 billion in 2021 to US $77 billion in 2025. Aditya Vedantam, an assistant professor at the school of management at the University of buffalo, said: “the second-hand market was always regarded by brands as competitors and thought it might erode their sales. But now, most of these brands are beginning to understand the real value of selling refurbished clothes.”

The covid-19 outbreak of the resale is closely related to the new crown pneumonia epidemic. The epidemic has not only produced hundreds of millions of second-hand consumers, but also changed many people’s understanding and attitude towards shopping. In 2010, fast fashion has just entered its heyday, and it is almost the norm in the fashion industry to wear one at a time; But now, the trend has declined. There are three obvious benefits of fashion resale: clothes don’t need to be worn once and are thrown into the landfill, resulting in waste; Reduced carbon emissions from the manufacture of new clothes; It can save money for consumers. ThredUP report shows that since the epidemic, saving money has become the top priority before people buy clothes, and half of consumers are more concerned about the price of clothes than before; And 43% of consumers are more concerned about the quality of clothes than ever before, because they hope to resell them later rather than directly discard the worn clothes. For waste, people have a new chain of contempt: compared with before the epidemic, 51% of consumers are more opposed to ecological waste and 60% are more opposed to waste of money.

Green fashion is also a young trend. The report shows that more than 40% of millennials and generation Z have purchased second-hand clothes in the past 12 months. In 2016, the proportion was only 23%. Fran ç OIS Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kaiyun group, told vogue business: “Second hand luxury is now a real and deep-rooted trend, especially popular with young consumers. We don’t want to ignore it, but we want to seize this opportunity to enhance the value we provide to our customers and affect the future of our industry towards more innovative and sustainable practices.”

From the perspective of brand, although they bet that resale business will win young shoppers who attach importance to sustainable development, the process of real implementation into resale business is often not so simple. On the one hand, processing, recycling and recycling require certain basic equipment and digital technology; On the other hand, most retailers are not experts in “reverse logistics” - the system needs to receive the returned goods, catalogue and store them; Before the goods are returned to the shelf, they need to be cleaned or repaired; Some of the returned clothing may not even be resold (it is reported that up to 5 billion pounds of resold goods end up in landfills across the United States every year). Therefore, for brands, the cost of dealing with second-hand goods may be higher than that of selling goods. Even if they are forced to carry the resale, it may be a gamble without return.

It is noteworthy that in the eyes of modern consumers, not all ways of sustainable fashion are worth pursuing. The report also mentioned that despite the surge in demand for second-hand clothing, people’s demand for clothing branded as “sustainable” is declining. The analysis pointed out that on the one hand, this kind of clothing may not be easy to buy. On the other hand, consumers may be worried about the possible “green bleaching” behavior of the brand.

The fashion industry is still one of the most polluted industries in the world, but resale fashion is a good proof that a good style does not have to spend more money - whether the money is in the wallet or at the cost of human living environment. After all, clothes can be used, but we only have one earth.

I don’t know when, our familiar clothing retailers have sneaked into the second-hand resale market.

In 2021 alone, many fashion and luxury brands crowded into the resale track one after another: in February, Alexander McQueen and vestiaire collective launched a clothing exchange shopping points repurchase program called “brand approved”; In July, Madewell and thredUP, a second-hand clothing platform, jointly announced the official launch of the second-hand cowboy consignment website “Madewell forever”; In August, Urban Outfitters created its own resale platform, where people can buy and sell clothes of this brand and even other brands

When fashion pays more and more attention to resale, even the word “second-hand” has become fashionable. Fashion brands have always been moved by the wind. Behind the resale plan, they just finally realize that second-hand clothing is a hidden big business in terms of commercial value and environmental value. The 2021 resale report released by thredUP shows that the resale industry will be one of the fastest growing segments of the retail industry. In the next five years, the secondary market value is expected to double from US $36 billion in 2021 to US $77 billion in 2025. Aditya Vedantam, an assistant professor at the school of management at the University of buffalo, said: “the second-hand market was always regarded by brands as competitors and thought it might erode their sales. But now, most of these brands are beginning to understand the real value of selling refurbished clothes.”

The covid-19 outbreak of the resale is closely related to the new crown pneumonia epidemic. The epidemic has not only produced hundreds of millions of second-hand consumers, but also changed many people’s understanding and attitude towards shopping. In 2010, fast fashion has just entered its heyday, and it is almost the norm in the fashion industry to wear one at a time; But now, the trend has declined. There are three obvious benefits of fashion resale: clothes don’t need to be worn once and are thrown into the landfill, resulting in waste; Reduced carbon emissions from the manufacture of new clothes; It can save money for consumers. ThredUP report shows that since the epidemic, saving money has become the top priority before people buy clothes, and half of consumers are more concerned about the price of clothes than before; And 43% of consumers are more concerned about the quality of clothes than ever before, because they hope to resell them later rather than directly discard the worn clothes. For waste, people have a new chain of contempt: compared with before the epidemic, 51% of consumers are more opposed to ecological waste and 60% are more opposed to waste of money.

Green fashion is also a young trend. The report shows that more than 40% of millennials and generation Z have purchased second-hand clothes in the past 12 months. In 2016, the proportion was only 23%. Fran ç OIS Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kaiyun group, told vogue business: “Second hand luxury is now a real and deep-rooted trend, especially popular with young consumers. We don’t want to ignore it, but we want to seize this opportunity to enhance the value we provide to our customers and affect the future of our industry towards more innovative and sustainable practices.”

From the perspective of brand, although they bet that resale business will win young shoppers who attach importance to sustainable development, the process of real implementation into resale business is often not so simple. On the one hand, processing, recycling and recycling require certain basic equipment and digital technology; On the other hand, most retailers are not experts in “reverse logistics” - the system needs to receive the returned goods, catalogue and store them; Before the goods are returned to the shelf, they need to be cleaned or repaired; Some of the returned clothing may not even be resold (it is reported that up to 5 billion pounds of resold goods end up in landfills across the United States every year). Therefore, for brands, the cost of dealing with second-hand goods may be higher than that of selling goods. Even if they are forced to carry the resale, it may be a gamble without return.

It is noteworthy that in the eyes of modern consumers, not all ways of sustainable fashion are worth pursuing. The report also mentioned that despite the surge in demand for second-hand clothing, people’s demand for clothing branded as “sustainable” is declining. The analysis pointed out that on the one hand, this kind of clothing may not be easy to buy. On the other hand, consumers may be worried about the possible “green bleaching” behavior of the brand.

The fashion industry is still one of the most polluted industries in the world, but resale fashion is a good proof that a good style does not have to spend more money - whether the money is in the wallet or at the cost of human living environment. After all, clothes can be used, but we only have one earth.