Why the smart fashionistas have stopped buying new clothes

From the latest issue of Kanebridge Quarterly. Order your copy here.

Are you in the market for a classic Chanel 2.55 bag? Or perhaps you’re dreaming about that Zimmermann dress you should have snapped up in store a couple of months ago? Chances are you’re spending as much time scouring the resale market as you are a brand-new version as the lines between new and shop fresh stock blur. The rise in designer and luxury resale globally shows no sign of slowing down. Rather, it is one of the biggest growth areas in the fashion industry today.

According to US-based secondhand fashion platform ThredUp’s 2024 Resale Report, the global secondhand apparel market is set to reach US$350 billion by 2028 — which sees it growing three times faster than the overall apparel market. Further to this, it anticipates that next year, 10 percent of the global apparel market will be made up of secondhand goods.

“There are three key triggers,” says Lauren Kennedy of Australian designer and luxury resale platform, High End. “One of them is sustainability. People are more conscious now of how they’re consuming.”

Of the other factors, cost of living is one —especially with the increasing prices of luxury goods in particular — and the other is the push from younger generations, particularly Gen Z and also Millennials, who feel no stigma around buying secondhand and prefer an individual approach to style.

“Everyone now wants their unique style, and resale offers unique pieces,” says Kennedy. “I would love to go into someone’s wardrobe from 50 years ago and look at all their stuff, because it was made with quality. They really like discovering and finding those unique pieces that you can only get resale, not retail.”

High End was founded as a peer-to-peer Facebook group 10 years ago by Brooke Marks, and six months ago it transitioned to an app and website. Of the Australian brands most in demand, she says it’s Camilla and Marc, Scanlan Theodore, Alemais and Zimmermann.

“And in terms of international designers, the most popular brands on our platform, which do hold their value, are Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Celine, Chanel, Prada,” she says.

Miranda Gillespie founded the luxury resale platform Luxe-It-Fwd in Brisbane in 2016, focusing purely on handbags and accessories. For her site, Louis Vuitton handbags are “the absolute standout” for customers.

“There’s a Louis Vuitton bag that can appeal to everyone,” says Gillespie. “Also, from a pricing point of view, you can have entry-level Louis Vuittons, which might be $1,500, which is quite cheap for a (luxury) handbag. Whereas you can’t enter Chanel at that price point.

“Certainly there is a sustainability element to it, and wanting to make more sustainable fashion shopping choices,” she adds. “But underlying it all, I think it really does come back to economics and being financially more savvy. If someone, for example, can purchase a handbag which might have little to no signs of use and pay $1,000 or $2,000 less than in the store, then that becomes a very attractive economic proposition for them.”

Individual brands have been slower to embrace the resale economy, but as the segment continues to gain traction, some have finally started to enter the fray. While premium and luxury brands are often concerned about devaluing and cannibalising their new products, some have started to dip their toes in the resale waters. It can be a way to show their support for the circular economy, build customer loyalty, and also reap a small, additional, portion of their products’ value.

French It-girl favourite label Isabel Marant has taken matters into its own hands, offering resale items alongside current season in some stores, while also operating a dedicated resale website. Gucci and Alexander McQueen recently partnered with Vestiaire Collective (their parent company, Kering, has a 5 percent stake in the resale platform), while their stablemate, Balenciaga has partnered with Reflaunt.

In Australia, Airrobe is one platform that has fostered direct relationships with brands including Oroton, Ginger & Smart and P.E Nation. Very few brands have launched their own resale platform, but Kit Willow is one that has taken the lead. Willow founded the sustainably focused brand KitX in 2015, and although she is winding up its new collections, the brand’s resale platform, KitXchange, will continue to operate.

“When the concept of KitX started to be born, I always had that vision (to include resale) because people could then circulate what already exists,” says Willow. “The premise is the value of material and design, to reinvigorate it and recirculate it. And that was actually before (we knew) the statistics on how much we were throwing away, which has now been pushed to the forefront, but is also a massive problem on a daily basis.”

Those statistics are truly alarming. In Australia alone, 200,000 tonnes of clothing go into landfill each year. These are among the statistics that Seamless — the name for the National Clothing Stewardship Scheme, a consortium of stakeholders led by the Australian Fashion Council and endorsed by the federal government which commenced in July — is aiming to address, with an aim of circularity in fashion by 2030.

Resale will play its part in this vision for a circular economy. (It is worth noting that Seamless will also ask for a levy of 4 cents for each new item of clothing sold in Australia, which will go towards funding for circularity initiatives; Seamless is currently an opt-in for brands. France, on the other hand, has put in place legislation to try and stem the influx of fast fashion, imposing a €5 surcharge on each item from next year.)

While the resale segment is on a growth trajectory, many are keen to see what its future looks like for business and customers alike.

“It is a new industry and there’s a lot of innovation and a lot of movement,” says Kennedy. “So it will be interesting to see what type of businesses come out on top and profitable, because one of the biggest challenges as a business in the industry is profitability at scale. It costs a lot to run these type of marketplace businesses and marketplaces only really work at scale.”

She believes that even platforms like High End will start to be populated by high-volume sellers who operate as businesses themselves.

Willow believes that one of the reasons the segment will continue to grow is that with the acceleration of climate change and its impact on the environment, natural fibres such as wool, cotton and silk will themselves become more expensive, pushing up prices of virgin garments and thus pushing more consumers into the resale market.

“It makes it even more important for designers to design more timeless pieces and create better quality,” she says, “so that their pieces can be reworn and resold for years to come.”