He received it within a week, unblemished by rips, tears or stains. He paid $80 for a zip-up blue sweater that costs $140 new. What he found was a banner on the homepage urging shoppers to buy used versions of their clothing and gear. While shopping for Black Friday deals last year, Griffen went to Patagonia’s site hoping for a sale that might make the normally costly items more affordable. One of them is Kevin Griffen, a 25-year-old legislative intern from Indianapolis. “In a lot of ways, our re-commerce business checks all the boxes around what we are hoping to achieve, which is providing products to more and more customers while lowering our environmental impact,” says Ken Voeller, who manages second-hand sales for REI, noting that the segment doubled for the recreation cooperative last year-fueled by customers 10 or 20 years younger than its traditional member base and twice as valuable.
The trend has even spawned its own marketing-friendly new word: re-commerce. They don’t always have to sell new, new, new,” says Dana Thomas, author of Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes. “It made them nervous until they realized they could get into the business too. If apparel companies’ sudden embrace of used goods sounds like an about-face from an industry that has long promulgated, and profited from, the idea that shoppers must have the latest fashions, that’s right. It’s also where the next generation of shoppers are: Most Gen Z consumers see no stigma in buying secondhand, and 40% have bought used clothing, shoes or accessories, double that of Gen X and Boomers. Secondhand products represent a $28 billion business that’s expected to more than double to $64 billion by 2024, according to ThredUp, a San Francisco–based online consignment company. It’s a one-stop shop for retail’s unsexy new trend: used clothes.