Resale Revolution
This article was originally written by Demi Karanikolaou in Greek for Harper’s Bazaar Greece. You can find it here.
The fashion scene is buzzing. By this point, we have all either indulged in a second hand purchase, or at least done some research after a friend or colleague mentioned it. If one thing is sure, that is that people like fashion and shopping, especially when the latter is aided by digital technologies, making it easier than ever. Consumers would historically buy new items with only a few alternatively styled people and teenagers preferring low priced thrift shops, until they could afford something new. Nowadays the online second hand market is changing the landscape, as it keeps on growing beyond any expectation. Across the industry,sales of new clothing are expected to fall 4% through 2024, while resale will nearly quintuple. For many, the appeal of second hand is bigger than traditional shopping and for good reasons.
If there is one thing that differentiates the thrift shops of the past from modern second hand retailers, that is technology. Digitally savvy from the start, many resale companies (eg: Vestiaire Collective, TheRealReal etc.) have managed to capture consumer demand when lockdowns around the globe forced them to stay inside. New abilities to facilitate communication between buyers and sellers have revolutionized the industry. Additionally, COVID seems to be speeding up what technology was already doing in the second hand market. Consumers are still craving the feeling of a new purchase, but their recent financial struggles and smaller budget are making them more willing than ever to spend time and energy hunting a good resale bargain. On a more superficial level through resale younger, instagram obsessed generations, have now the ability to afford something slightly more expensive that what they normally would and even tap into high-end brands for a fraction of the price.
However, Gen Z is not primarily driven by price, at least not as much as they are driven by social causes and ethics. Sustainability has been a major topic all over the fashion industry and second hand retail is well positioned to dominate these conversations. Younger shoppers care about the impact that their purchases have on the environment, the materials and production cycle of them and subsequently the lifespan of their items. Resale extends this lifespan, by not only allowing an item to change owners and get more usage, but also by allowing consumers to buy higher quality products for a lower price. In the long run compared to keep producing everything new, this is more beneficial for consumers and the environment alike.
While resale is clearly gaining popularity based on price and technology, the industry is also driving growth by the unique items it can offer. Unlike popular decades for style like the 60s or the 80s, the effects of society's economic struggles in the 2010s and 20s have definitely been projected into uninspiring utilitarian dressing, without any exciting major new trends. Treasures from our stylish past are now more rare and unique than ever, promising the dream of better days and driving clicks on digital baskets. Rising consumer preference for unique, second hand vintage pieces is combined however with a more down to earth reality. Fluctuating consumer sizes caused by the prolonged lockdown during pandemic have changed the clothing size of many individuals, resulting in many garments not being used. With a recent study showing that 35.82% of people globally reported gaining weight during the pandemic, many are looking into resale to not only sell their older pieces of clothing, but to also buy the necessary new ones to fit their body.
Commonly sceptical of technology, big luxury brands saw online resale initially as a competitor, threatening to take part of their sales while also spoiling their prestige brand image with old, ill-conditioned or unauthentic products. However, this segment of the fashion industry is growing increasingly too big to ignore. With younger customers being digitally native, second hand advocates and practically the future of any brand there was no doubt that luxury would follow suit. Within the last year big luxury companies have created partnerships with retailers like Farfetch, verification services ( Alexander McQueen - brand approved initiative for VC) or even physically invest into buying shares of the resale companies, such as the recent 5% acquisition of Vestiaire Collective by the Kering Group (Gucci, Saint Laurent etc.). The ability of luxury goods to hold value in resale also proves that they can be assets, rather than consumable liabilities, offering prestige to the luxury brand itself.
As the technology that poses the pillar of new age resale evolves, new features driven by artificial intelligence or even by the learnings that warehouses, authentication services and distribution gained during the COVID era, will drive the second hand market to grow further. Gen Z, the sustainability focused biggest supporter of resale will also eventually grow old enough to have a larger stake of the purchasing power breakdown and will keep looking into second hand whether that will be for saving costs, finding a wider clothing size range, rare vintage treasures or simply for ethical consumption purposes. Looking back into what shaped the style of different periods or decades, like the elegance of the 50s or the extravagance of the 80s, some would argue that the 2010-2020s seem lesser than in comparison. However vintage items and the mixup of all styles are collectively becoming the face of our decade. A decade that looked in the past through the internet, in order to survive and build the future.