Resale continues to outperform the broader fashion and luxury market. Looking ahead, the secondhand market is expected to grow two to three times faster than the first-hand market from 2025 to 2027. Online resale marketplaces make up the lion’s share of sales, accounting for 88 percent of resale spending in the US in 2024. US online resale is forecast to grow 16 percent annually, reaching $34 billion by 2027.
Asia has become the largest and fastest-growing market. China is a key growth driver, where even wealthier shoppers are seeking deals by shopping resale. Over 60 percent of Chinese consumers report shopping more from resale platforms today compared with two to three years ago, while over 70 percent report plans to shop resale in 2026. The luxury resale market in China is expected to reach $33 billion by 2025.
Globally, 59 percent of consumers say they are likely to purchase secondhand in 2026. Gen Z and Millennials continue to be the core consumer groups buying secondhand, but older generations are also increasingly shopping resale.
Several motivations underpin the uptick in consumer appetite for resale, including rising prices on the primary market due to trade uncertainty. According to ThredUp, nearly 60 percent of consumers say they will seek more affordable options like shopping secondhand if tariffs increase apparel prices. Early signs are already visible: in the first quarter of 2025, as tariff discussions intensified, resale marketplace Depop’s app downloads increased 125 percent over the previous quarter.
Even so, consumer motivations extend beyond their budgets, as 61 percent of consumers say they would continue to buy or sell products on resale websites even if they had more money to spend, for reasons such as the “thrill of the hunt.”
Motivations for shopping resale vary across age groups. Younger shoppers place greater value on discovering unique pieces and past-season items, while older shoppers are more motivated by the treasure hunt and sustainability aspects.
Category demand varies by region and reflects cultural norms, trust and market maturity
Different product categories appeal to different resale markets. In China, a newer resale market, the top resale categories include asset-like accessories that maintain their value over time. In the UK, where resale culture is broadly penetrated and trend-led, everyday wear and occasion wear for events like weddings dominate. Globally, categories like outerwear that are perceived as durable are popular in resale.
Watches, jewellery and bags are popular as investment pieces. In China and the US, where despite economic uncertainty consumers are still interested in buying luxury, watches are the first and second most popular resale categories, respectively. Some products in these segments can even gain value over time. For example, the average selling price for Van Cleef & Arpels’ Alhambra collection rose 20 percent between 2021 to 2025 on The RealReal. On eBay, global resale prices for Miu Miu’s Arcadie bag climbed 43 percent between January and May 2025.
Resale platforms are reaching an inflection point, as scale and technology unlock profitability
Online marketplaces are the engine of resale’s rapid expansion
The scale and reach of these online platforms have made resale a mainstream channel. Some marketplaces specialise in luxury and designer goods, such as The RealReal and Vestiaire Collective, while others target the mid-to-mass market, like ThredUp. Some cater to specific product categories, including Rebag for designer handbags, Chrono24 for watches and StockX’s focus on sneakers.
The financial viability of resale marketplaces is improving
The RealReal achieved EBITDA profitability for the first time in Q4 2023. Europe’s Vinted, after years of losses, also reached profitability in 2023 with a net profit of €17.8 million ($20.9 million), before growing 330 percent to reach a net profit of €76.7 million ($89.2 million) in 2024. In the first quarter of 2025, Vinted became the biggest retailer by sales volume in the entire apparel market in France.
These milestones reflect significant momentum in a sector that historically struggled with profitability. The constraint of high inventory costs, the one-of-a-kind nature of products, inefficient reverse logistics for individual items and the authentication burden weighed on margins. While these challenges remain, this dynamic is starting to shift as technology lowers costs and boosts efficiency.
Resale marketplaces are reducing costs by bringing more operations in-house. For example, Vinted invested in its own logistics and payments arm and brought servers and security software in-house. AI and automation are also streamlining critical processes, from listing to authentication.
The RealReal uses proprietary AI tools to save time and money on authentication. Its machine learning counterfeit inspection model, Shield, collects data from more than 50 product attributes to identify those at high risk, which are then prioritised for inspection by the most experienced authenticators. Additionally, Vision, its photo-based AI tool, examines product images in minute detail to predict counterfeit likelihood. It considers fine details, such as leather grain and threading, which can be particularly hard for the human eye to accurately assess.
While a smaller part of the market, brands and retailers are increasingly participating in resale
Brand- and retailer-led resale currently makes up only a fraction of the secondhand market. These players hosted approximately 275,000 active online listings in 2025, while peer-to-peer platform Depop hosted more than 40 million alone. Participation has risen since 2021, but momentum has slowed over the last year as fewer than one-third of executives cite resale as a priority.
Motivations for entering resale
Heading into 2026, the success of marketplaces should encourage brands to reassess how resale could fit into their ecosystem. Of brands that are embracing resale, two-thirds cite the acquisition of new customers at lower price points as a key incentive, while around one in four cite improved brand control, allowing them to extract greater value from products by keeping them in circulation. Resale can also drive store traffic, providing new reasons for customers to visit and browse first-hand products — while also reducing the operational burden of listing and describing resale items online.
Resale-as-a-Service (RaaS) providers as enablers
Platforms such as Trove, ThredUp and Reflaunt offer tailored solutions that enable brands to deliver resale experiences integrated into existing infrastructure while outsourcing operations. These platforms help overcome common hurdles such as product quality control and authentication (cited by 34 percent of executives as a challenge) and lack of internal expertise (cited by 31 percent).
Lululemon’s “Like New” trade-in programme, in partnership with software platform Archive Resale, enables the brand to keep customers and products in the Lululemon ecosystem. Customers trade in their used Lululemon products in exchange for store credit. The brand hosts events to grow awareness of the programme, such as at film festival South x Southwest in Austin in March 2025.
Luxury department store Selfridges’ resale offering, Reselfridges, is available in stores and online. With a focus on high-end designer brands, archival and rare items, Selfridges leans into its curatorial reputation and sells pieces from customer trade-ins, partnerships with external specialists and concessions. The programme supports the retailer’s goal to make 45 percent of all sales circular by 2030.
Brands and retailers entering resale should tailor the model to their business needs
Fashion brands and retailers that want to engage with resale have three main options — enter a partnership with a resale player, use a Resale-as-a-Service provider or build their own in-house operations.
- Partner with a platform
How it works:
A brand partners with a third-party resale marketplace, ranging from co-marketing initiatives to deeper collaborations such as consignment models, product buy-backs or shop-in-shop integrations.
Benefits:
- Light-touch operationally and minimal infrastructure investment
- Access to established marketplaces and large communities of buyers and sellers
Drawbacks:
- Limited control over brand experience and customer data
- Limited revenue generation potential
Most suited to:
- Small to mid-sized brands who want a low-cost, fast entry to test appetite for resale
- Luxury brands that want access to a ready-made audience and high traffic
- Use Resale-as-a-Service (RaaS)
How it works:
RaaS providers deliver white-labelled, turnkey solutions for resale technology and operations, allowing brands to integrate the offering into their own website or host it on a separate platform.
Benefits:
- Favourable economics due to fixed costs and revenue-share or per-item arrangements
- Operational expertise and support is outsourced
Drawbacks:
- Outsourcing can result in limited customisation and market differentiation
- Commercial, operational and strategic benefits are filtered through a third-party
Most suited to:
- Brands that lack the scale, expertise or tech capabilities to invest heavily in resale
- Brands with a loyal following seeking to balance speed to market with control
- Build in-house
How it works:
A brand builds the underlying technology and operates its own platform, including collecting and buying back items, authentication, product display, transactions, returns and logistics.
Benefits:
- Full control of the brand experience and scalable potential
- Full ownership of customer data and integration into e-commerce processes
Drawbacks:
- Upfront investment required can be significant, especially in tech builds
- Significant running costs and labour dedicated to non-core capabilities
Most suited to:
- Larger brands with significant scale and brand equity
- Brands that want to make resale a long-term part of their strategy
Resale can be seen as a commercial lever as much as a brand play in 2026
Brands remain cautious about cannibalising first-hand sales with secondhand strategies, with one in five executives citing this as a barrier. However, resale also has the potential to boost the primary offering:
Brand perception: Resale can reinforce perceptions of quality and durability while emphasising circularity initiatives. Extending the lifespan of products will be an increasingly important consideration as the EU’s incoming Extended Producer Responsibility regulation shifts financial responsibility for end-of-life products onto producers. Already in place in France, fines of up to €7,500 ($8,805) per unit can be issued for non-compliance.
Customer acquisition: 43 percent of consumers who first discovered a brand through resale subsequently purchased first-hand items. Resale widens access to more price-sensitive consumers, a growing consideration as tariff-driven price increases heighten affordability concerns.
Customer loyalty: Resale can power repeat purchases from a brand’s primary offering. Brands like Balenciaga — which launched resale with RaaS provider Reflaunt in 2022 — encourage customers to trade in old products in exchange for store credit to purchase new items. As customers heighten their focus on value, store credits become even more persuasive.
Brands have often treated resale as a brand building exercise. Looking ahead, those adopting should consider making it commercially adjacent — for example, setting KPIs such as trade-in conversion, retention and incremental full-price sales — to capitalise on rising demand for value.
How should executives respond to these shifts?
Choose a resale model to suit scale, ambition and resources
Given the growing demand for resale and increased price sensitivity, a resale presence is increasingly essential for brands. But in 2026, brands can no longer treat resale as a side initiative. Selecting the right model is a strategic choice that will define the amount of value captured — from brand equity to revenue and loyalty.
For some players, marketplace partnerships may suffice. But for those seeking deeper impact, more integrated approaches such as Resale-as-a-Service or in-house investments can allow brands to differentiate their propositions, such as through a brand-curated product selection or expert authentication.
Focus on high-value categories that reinforce brand identity
Not every category will be equally as attractive from a resale perspective. Deciding where to invest efforts will be particularly important for multi-brand retailers entering resale. Products with strong resale value — such as handbags and outerwear — tend to have a longer life and can generate higher margins. These categories are natural candidates with which to pilot and scale resale. Regional and cultural dynamics should also shape which categories to prioritise, with consumers in the US and China leaning towards big-ticket items and those in the UK more trend-driven everyday wear.
Brands should also use their core values to prioritise which products and categories to integrate into resale. Doing so ensures that resale reinforces brand identity and deepens loyalty, rather than becoming a disconnected add-on.
Use resale to strengthen first-hand sales and attract new customers
Resale can reinforce brand equity and consumer perception in the primary market. It extends reach by attracting new audiences and converting resale buyers into future full-price customers.
Strong resale value also signals quality and durability — a “good investment” that sustains trust in a brand’s first-hand products. Many companies amplify this effect by rewarding customers with credit or promotions, creating a loyalty loop that drives repeat purchases and deepens long-term relationships.
To capture this value, brands should establish clear commercial KPIs — from trade-in conversion rates to customer retention and incremental full-price sales.
This article first appeared in The State of Fashion 2026, an in-depth report on the global fashion industry, co-published by BoF and McKinsey & Company.
