Why the smart fashionistas have stopped buying new clothes
The resale market for designer clothing has never been stronger as women embrace personal style over trends
5 min
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.”
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Overall, the season showed that share prices react less to whether profits rose or fell than to the gap between results and expectations
5 min
Reporting season has once again reminded investors that a strong profit does not guarantee a rising share price, and a large loss does not always trigger a sell-off. What matters most is how each result compares with expectations and, increasingly, what management says about the year ahead. During the August 2026 season, companies offering credible turnarounds or unexpectedly strong guidance were rewarded handsomely, while those flagging weaker margins, slowing demand or greater uncertainty were punished.
The following ranking draws on Morningstar’s review of 164 ASX-listed companies and measures each company’s share-price movement on the day it reported. This captures the market’s immediate response to the earnings announcement, before subsequent economic developments, dividends and company-specific news cloud the picture. Here are the five biggest winners, and the five hardest-hit losers, of the season so far.
The five winners
1. Bapcor (ASX:BAP): +41.0%
Bapcor delivered reporting season’s largest relief rally after presenting early evidence that its troubled automotive-parts business was stabilising. Although underlying revenue fell 1.8% to $1.92 billion and underlying NPAT collapsed 85% to $10.8 million, underlying EBITDA of $152.5 million exceeded guidance.
More importantly, working-capital initiatives released $68.5 million in the second half, lifting cash conversion to 109.4% and reducing net debt by 63% to $135 million. The statutory loss was $431.6 million, largely because of non-cash impairments. Investors focused on improving operational momentum, stronger liquidity and management’s expectation of modest FY27 revenue growth.
2. Zip Co (ASX:ZIP): +18.2%
Zip comfortably surpassed its FY26 targets, sending the buy-now-pay-later provider’s shares sharply higher. Transaction volume rose 23% to $16.7 billion, while cash earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation jumped 58% to a record $268.9 million. Statutory profit climbed 46% to $116.4 million, and the cash operating margin expanded by 4.2 percentage points to 20%.
The strongest signal was guidance for FY27 cash earnings of $340 million—around 26% growth and above analysts’ forecasts. US transaction volume increased 42.5% and now represents three-quarters of group volume, offsetting weaker customer activity in Australia.
3. CSL (ASX:CSL): +17.3%
CSL’s result was hardly spectacular in isolation, but it cleared a market bar that had fallen dramatically following earlier downgrades and restructuring announcements. Underlying NPATA was US$3.1 billion, down 2% in constant-currency terms, while operating cash flow reached US$3.51 billion.
CSL maintained its full-year dividend at US$2.92 per share and completed a A$1 billion buyback. The real catalyst was FY27 guidance for approximately 5% underlying profit growth, compared with market expectations closer to 2%. After an extended period of earnings disappointments, investors interpreted the outlook as evidence that CSL’s core plasma business was approaching a sustainable recovery.
4. Judo Capital (ASX:JDO): +16.9%
Judo Capital demonstrated strong operating leverage as its specialist business-lending franchise expanded. Full-year profit before tax rose 34% to $168.1 million, while pre-provision profit increased 42%. Gross loans and advances grew 18% to $14.7 billion, reaching the top of the bank’s guidance range and comfortably exceeding broader system growth.
Deposits increased 24% to $12.2 billion, return on equity improved by 1.1 percentage points to 6.4%, and earnings per share rose 29% to 9.9 cents. Reaffirmation of the FY27 outlook gave investors confidence that loan growth could continue without sacrificing margins or credit quality.
5. Super Retail Group (ASX:SUL): +15.8%
The owner of Supercheap Auto, rebel, BCF and Macpac reported record sales of $4.2 billion, up 3.2%, despite cautious discretionary spending. Profitability went backwards: normalised profit before tax fell 7% to $306 million and normalised NPAT declined 2.8% to $226 million as transformation spending weighed on margins. Nevertheless, the result exceeded subdued expectations, online sales grew 5.3% and membership across the group’s loyalty programs reached 13.1 million. Investors were also encouraged by positive early FY27 trading, stable gross margins and continued market-share gains. A fully franked 33-cent final dividend added to the appeal.
The five losers
1. Hansen Technologies (ASX:HSN): –21.2%
Hansen’s historic result met expectations, but investors recoiled from its outlook. The utility and communications software provider achieved an underlying EBITDA margin of 31%, exceeding its 30% target, while generating strong cash flow. However, management designated FY27 an “investment and transition year”, signalling a roughly five-percentage-point margin contraction as spending on products, sales capabilities and organisational changes increased.
Revenue had already been broadly flat, leaving investors concerned that the investment program would depress earnings before new growth appeared. Leadership changes, including the chief executive’s departure, added uncertainty. Management expects revenue growth and margins above 30% to return in FY28, but the market was unwilling to wait.
2. Life360 (ASX:360): –19.4%
Life360’s headline growth was impressive: quarterly revenue rose 38% to US$159 million, subscription revenue increased 31%, and adjusted EBITDA climbed 53% to US$31.1 million. Monthly active users reached 102.4 million and paying circles grew 27% to 3.2 million. The sell-off reflected expectations rather than a collapsing business.
Net income fell 18%, the net margin contracted from 6% to 3%, hardware shipments dropped 18%, and full-year EBITDA guidance was merely maintained. After a strong valuation run, investors wanted a larger upgrade and clearer evidence that heavy investment in advertising, international expansion and artificial intelligence would generate additional earnings.
3. PEXA Group (ASX:PXA): –17.0%
PEXA reported a 7% increase in continuing-operations revenue and 12% EBITDA growth to $152 million, accompanied by a two-percentage-point margin expansion. Free cash flow increased 39%, suggesting the core Australian electronic-conveyancing platform remained highly profitable. Investors instead concentrated on management’s warning that property-transfer volumes could decline, alongside regulatory uncertainty surrounding the fees PEXA can charge.
The company is also continuing to invest heavily in its loss-making international expansion. Morningstar considered the market reaction excessive, arguing that structural transfer-volume assumptions had not materially changed, but the combination of softer near-term activity and regulatory risk overwhelmed the respectable headline numbers.
4. SEEK (ASX:SEK): –14.3%
SEEK produced solid FY26 figures, including 10% revenue growth to $1.20 billion, a 15% rise in EBITDA and 28% growth in adjusted earnings per share. It also lifted its fully franked annual dividend by 13% to a record 52 cents. Those achievements were overshadowed by falling paid job-ad volumes and cautious FY27 assumptions.
The statutory accounts included a $201 million loss from the SEEK Growth Fund and $377 million of significant items, making the headline result considerably less attractive. Investors were particularly concerned that economic weakness could limit volumes while the company continued investing in platform integration and artificial-intelligence products.
5. JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH): –12.3%
JB Hi-Fi’s full-year result was broadly respectable, with group sales rising 5% to $11.1 billion and underlying earnings per share increasing 6% to $4.48. The damage came from its current-trading update. Australian sales were almost flat during the June quarter and deteriorated further in July, while earnings in the core Australian electronics business fell 3.6%.
Housing-related categories were particularly weak as higher living costs and interest rates constrained household budgets. With JB Hi-Fi entering the season on a demanding valuation, an in-line historic result was not sufficient: the loss of sales momentum prompted investors to rapidly reduce their expectations for FY27.
Overall, the season showed that share prices react less to whether profits rose or fell than to the gap between results and expectations. Bapcor was rewarded for being less troubled than feared, while several fundamentally profitable companies were punished because their outlooks failed to justify elevated valuations.
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