ThredUp Launches New Fashion Footprint Calculator

ThredUp’s 2023 resale report predicts the robust growth of secondhand apparel. By 2027, the global market will reach $350 billion, and the U.S.market will to grow to $70 billion. Consumers are embracing secondhand in the midst of economic uncertainty, the report said.

One in three apparel items bought in the last 12 months was secondhand, and gently-worn clothing and accessories are capturing wallet share as inflation continues, with 37% of consumers spending more of their apparel budget on secondhand items in the last 12 months.

Retailers are adopting resale at an accelerated rate. In 2022, 88 brands launched resale programs, some partnering with ThredUp’s Retail As A Service or RaaS. Retailers view resale as a growth driver. More than two out of three retailers who offer resale say it’s integral to the company’s long term growth strategy.

Anthony Marino, president of ThredUp, said, “This is the company’s 11th report and my 10th,” said Marino. “The four things I thought were the most new and the most different: The fact that secondhand is a global phenomenon. That makes it quite clear that resale is not a geographical thing. It’s not a flash in the pan, it’s really a mainstay. The second thing that really stood out to me is that inflation really shined a spotlight on secondhand.

“We’ve seen this before, when there’s a crisis,” Marino said. “Consumers search for value in a crisis. Consumers bought 1.4 billion pieces of secondhand apparel items instead of new last year. That’s a 40% increase from the year before. People in their minds, are connecting the purchase of the secondhand item, and are acknowledging that it impacts the environment.”

Retailers and brands are embracing resale programs at greater rates than ever, Marino said. Eighty-eight brands in 2022 partnered with ThredUp’s Resale As A Service, a 244% increase over the prior year. Marino said, “2022 was a year when retailers were struggling. We noticed that they needed a strategy for resale. Five years ago, retailers would say, ‘Why are you knocking on our door and asking, if you can help us start a resale business?’”

“It’s a very large and growing market,” Marino added. “We’re battling to protect our core business. The context with which retailers adopted secondhand was so significant.”

“The inspiration for the fashion footprint calculator: We know there’s a lot of noise out there around understanding the facts of the your environmental impact,” Marino said. “Gen Z customers have been saying to us, ‘I want to learn more about my fashion habit. I want to break my bad fashion habit.

“What the Fashion Footprint Calculator does is it gives you a way to go and asks you a couple of questions to find out if you’re a net polluter or someone who’s not,” Marino said. “The idea is not to be preachy. We want to be punchy and informative and fun. It shows you how to improve by buying a few more products that are secondhand rather than new.”

Marino said governments are getting involved and trying to incentivize consumer and corporate behaviors that are more sustainable. “We feel that getting the knowledge and power to consumers is so exciting. We feel the consumer is opening the door for us. There’s a rising tide of retailers and brands that want to understand how to develop a retail strategy and how to manage their brand DNA in a retail experience so it can be accretive to their brand value, and therefore, profitable.”

“Brands are coming to us with that point of view,” Marino said. They’re saying, ‘We want to develop a retail experience that’s true to our brand.’ I’m more bullish on secondhand than ever before.

“Consumers are increasingly thinking of secondhand first, a fact that comes through the data in the report,” Marino said. “Retailers are meeting demand from consumers by entering resale,” Marino added. “These are businesses that are predominantly selling resale. Increasingly, retailers want to get into selling used things.”

“Environmental and climate issues are front of center for young shoppers and for regulators, and for the employees or brands and retailers who want their companies to lead for the future,” Marino said.