Tea Collection Launches Its Own Resale Business—A First In Kids Clothing

If, like me, you’re a longtime fan of kids’ clothing brand Tea Collection, you’ve probably noticed that the clothing lasts remarkably long. I’m always amazed when I have pieces I’m not embarrassed to hand down, even after my child has had her way with them for several years.

So it makes sense that the brand has launched Tea Rewear, a marketplace for buying and selling Tea. Following in the footsteps of Levi’s and Patagonia, Tea is the first kids clothing brand to host its own resale site.

“I’m very happy this is the year we finally figured this out,” said Leigh Rawdon, founder and CEO of Tea. “One of our commitments early on was to make clothes that didn’t fall apart. The best thing we can do for the planet is to make clothes that don’t end up in a landfill.”

The timing could not be better with Earth month beginning today. To sell your clothing on Rewear, you can photograph and ship items yourself (for a higher commission). Or, Tea and its partner Kidizen will pair you with a seller who will do that work for you. Lastly, you can trade your garments in for $5 credit per item on new Tea. You can mail your trade-ins or drop them off at select Tea Collection retailers in Austin, Charlotte, Philadelphia or San Francisco, with more locations to come as the program grows.

Tea has long hoped to participate in reselling the brand’s own styles, but for many reasons—pricing, technology, wanting to be sensitive to Tea’s already enthusiastic resell community—it was a tough nut to crack.

Tea fanatics were already taking it upon themselves to create buy, sell, trade (BST) groups specifically devoted to the brand. So Rawdon and her team wanted to create a space that makes it as easy as possible for Tea fans to share and find clothing. But the groups tend to want operate independently, so Rawdon said she and her team had to be thoughtful about how they might become a part of the resale community.

As it turns out, customers are excited about the platform. The site has garnered more than 20,000 listings to date.

The clothing resale market is the fastest-growing segment in the fashion industry overall. According to GlobalData, the industry is expected to grow 11 times faster than the broader retail clothing sector by 2025, mainly thanks to growing awareness of fast fashion’s environmental toll. GlobalData also estimates that the second-hand apparel market in the U.S. could double to $76.4 billion by 2025.

Even the most discerning fashion mavens are becoming comfortable with buying from high-end vintage shops and online marketplaces including Poshmark, The Real Real or TreadUp. And of the resell market, children’s clothing is gaining the most ground.

It makes sense, since so many consumers are already comfortable with accepting or giving away hand-me downs with friends or family.

And Tea’s customers are passionate about the brand’s heritage. Each season, Tea Collection designers celebrate a different country, creating unique prints that reflect the culture (the brands name came from the idea that cultures in pretty much every country share tea). That, plus the high quality, cute styles make the garments super collectible.

“There’s an emotional attachment, and it’s timeless aesthetically, so it can be totally relevant later,” Rawdon said. “And it has a little bit of an exclusive feeling because it’s from the past.”

Tea’s Rewear provides search functionality so customers to shop by country, size, gender, price, popularity, and more.

Of course, Tea also wanted to create an additional revenue stream for its business. After many years of discussing ways to approach a resale project, a partnership with Kidizen, which had already developed essential technology and processes behind kids resale, made the numbers work.

Running a sustainable business without relying on investment has always been a top priority for Rawdon, and the approach has served her well. Twenty years after launch, Tea is still thriving.

“It’s so old fashioned, but the price you charge for the dress needs to cover all the costs that it takes to not only make it, but to run the business,” she said. “And that’s been important for 20 years, which has allowed us to stay in business for 20 years. We’re totally independent, and that give us a lot of freedom and also a lot of responsibility.”

A large part of that responsibility is respecting the earth as much as is possible for a clothing company. Tea Rewear is one more way for Tea to do that, plus honor and invigorate interest in the brand’s two-decades-long heritage.

“It’s almost like a walk down memory lane in a way to see all these old designs,” Rawdon said. “But then you’re also seeing the future, too.”