Vintage Clothing Statistics

32% of fashion executives said resale will be among the top three trends in the fashion industry in 2024 [1]

87% of retail executives said customers have participated in resale in the last 12 months [2]

52% of retail executives said their customers are trading down from higher-priced apparel [2]

54% of retail executives said consumers expect more value from apparel items than they did two years ago [2]

80% of retail executives said their customers are already participating in resale [3]

76% of retail executives said customers are thinking more carefully about spending due to economic uncertainty [3]

74% of retail executives said resale value is becoming more important to their customers [3]

65% of retail executives said their customers have become more price sensitive amid inflation [3]

94% of retail executives said their customers are already participating in resale in 2022 [4]

82% of retail executives said customers are interested in trading in apparel for store credit [4]

41% of retail executives said resale and recommerce capabilities will be a must-have by 2023 [4]

47% of retail executives said increased customer loyalty was a top benefit of resale [4]

42% of retail executives said acquisition of new customers was a top benefit of resale [4]

33% of retail executives said incremental revenue was a top benefit of resale [4]

15% of retail executives said resale was an established part of their business in 2022 [4]

65% of brands surveyed by Vestiaire Collective and BCG said resale would cannibalize sales less than 10% [5]

76% of fashion executives expect resale to be profitable within one to three years [5]

70% of brands reported that resale attracts new customers [5]

60% of brands reported that resale improves customer retention [5]

55% of brands plan to increase investment in resale in 2023 [5]

82% of luxury consumers said they considered resale when making a new luxury purchase [6]

The online channel accounted for 30% of global luxury purchases in 2022 [6]

The secondhand luxury market grew 65% from 2017 to 2021 [6]

In 2023, eBay generated $10.1 billion in gross merchandise volume from pre-loved and refurbished fashion [7]

eBay facilitated the sale of more than 1,200 pre-loved fashion items every minute in 2023 [7]

Poshmark had 130 million registered users as of 2023 [8]

Poshmark had 40 million active buyers as of 2022 [8]

Poshmark had 8 million active sellers as of 2022 [8]

More than 300 million items had been listed on Poshmark as of 2022 [8]

Poshmark’s gross merchandise value was $1.8 billion in 2022 [8]

The RealReal generated $1.6 billion in gross merchandise value in 2023 [9]

The RealReal had 37.2 million members in 2023 [9]

The RealReal had 985,000 active buyers in 2023 [9]

Depop had over 35 million registered users in 2021 [10]

52% of consumers shopped secondhand apparel in 2023 [2]

71% of consumers across generations shopped secondhand apparel in 2023 [2]

63% of Gen Z and Millennials looked for an item secondhand before buying new in 2023 [2]

59% of consumers said if an item they’re considering buying is available secondhand, they’re more likely to buy it secondhand than new [2]

46% of consumers said apparel brands offering shopping incentives for secondhand purchases would increase their loyalty [2]

40% of younger consumers said they would switch from their preferred apparel brand to another if the preferred brand did not offer shopping incentives for secondhand purchases [2]

57% of younger consumers believe resale value is an important factor when purchasing apparel [2]

45% of younger consumers said they would spend more on an apparel item if they knew they could resell it later [2]

68% of consumers said inflation drove them to look for more affordable ways to shop in 2023 [2]

55% of consumers said inflation drove them to clean out their closets in 2023 [2]

44% of consumers said if they had a bad experience selling secondhand apparel online, they would likely stop participating in resale altogether [2]

62% of consumers sought out apparel and footwear with “new with tags” listings in 2023 [2]

47% of consumers sought out secondhand apparel and footwear sold by individual sellers in 2023 [2]

37% of consumers sought out secondhand apparel and footwear sold directly by brands in 2023 [2]

33% of consumers sought out secondhand apparel and footwear authenticated by a trusted expert in 2023 [2]

29% of consumers sought out secondhand apparel and footwear from nonprofit organizations or local charities in 2023 [2]

35% of Gen Z bought secondhand apparel in 2022 [11]

29% of Millennials bought secondhand apparel in 2022 [11]

23% of Gen X bought secondhand apparel in 2022 [11]

19% of Baby Boomers bought secondhand apparel in 2022 [11]

47% of U.S. consumers bought secondhand apparel in 2022 [12]

58% of U.S. consumers said they buy secondhand apparel because it is cheaper [13]

37% of U.S. consumers said they buy secondhand apparel because it is more sustainable [13]

29% of U.S. consumers said they buy secondhand apparel because they can find unique items [13]

52% of U.S. consumers sold secondhand apparel in 2022 [14]

54% of consumers in a Vestiaire Collective/BCG survey said they purchased pre-owned fashion because they wanted better value for money [5]

39% of consumers in the same survey cited access to luxury brands as a reason to buy pre-owned fashion [5]

35% of consumers in the same survey said they buy pre-owned fashion to access sold-out items [5]

58% of consumers in the same survey said they sold pre-owned fashion to make money [5]

44% of consumers in the same survey said they sold pre-owned fashion to declutter [5]

74% of Vestiaire Collective members said they had changed their shopping behavior because of the cost-of-living crisis [5]

57% of consumers globally said they were willing to buy second-hand clothes in 2021 [15]

43% of consumers globally said they already bought second-hand clothes instead of new in 2021 [15]

23 million garments are sent to landfill or incinerated in the UK every year [16]

The UK clothing reuse and recycling sector generates around £400 million in revenue each year [16]

The clothing reuse and recycling sector in the UK employs around 10,000 people [16]

Around 620,000 tonnes of used textiles are collected annually in the UK for reuse and recycling [16]

An estimated £140 million worth of clothing goes to landfill in the UK each year [16]

In the EU, about 5.8 million tonnes of textiles are discarded every year [17]

Each person in the EU throws away around 11 kg of textiles per year [17]

Separate collection for textiles will be mandatory in the EU by 2025 [17]

About 4% of the world’s freshwater withdrawal is used for textile dyeing and finishing [18]

The equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles is released into the ocean every year from washing plastic-based textiles [18]

20% of global industrial water pollution comes from textile treatment and dyeing [19]

Every year, the fashion industry uses enough water to meet the needs of 5 million people [20]

It takes 2,700 litres of water to make one cotton shirt [19]

A garbage truck’s worth of textiles is wasted every second globally [20]

More than 100 billion garments are produced each year globally [20]

85% of all textiles go to the dump each year [20]

Americans throw out 34 billion pounds of used textiles annually [20]

The average U.S. consumer throws away 81.5 pounds of clothes per year [20]

In 2018, 17 million tons of textile municipal solid waste were generated in the U.S. [21]

In 2018, 2.5 million tons of textiles were combusted with energy recovery in the U.S. [21]

In 2018, 2.5 million tons of textiles were recycled in the U.S. [21]

Textiles accounted for 5.8% of total municipal solid waste landfilled in the U.S. in 2018 [21]

Textiles accounted for 6.2% of total municipal solid waste generation in the U.S. in 2018 [21]

The U.S. generated 17.03 million tons of textile waste in 2018 [22]

Municipal textile waste generation in the U.S. increased from 13.17 million tons in 2010 to 17.03 million tons in 2018 [22]

In 2018, 66.2 pounds of textile waste per person were generated in the U.S. [22]

The share of textiles recycled in the U.S. was 14.7% in 2018 [23]

The share of textiles landfilled in the U.S. was 66.5% in 2018 [23]

The share of textiles combusted in the U.S. was 14.7% in 2018 [23]

In 2022, Vinted members reported keeping 148,000 tonnes of clothing in active use through resale [24]

In 2023, Vinted members sold 596 million second-hand items [24]

In 2023, Vinted had more than 105 million registered members [24]

In 2023, Vinted operated in 21 markets [24]

In 2023, Vinted users uploaded over 2.2 billion items to the platform cumulatively [24]

In 2023, Vinted’s community prevented 679 kilotonnes of CO2e emissions from replaced new purchases [24]

The global secondhand apparel market was valued at $197 billion in 2023 [2]

The global secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $350 billion by 2028 [2]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market was valued at $43 billion in 2023 [2]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $73 billion by 2028 [2]

The U.S. secondhand market grew 11% in 2023 [2]

The global secondhand apparel market is projected to grow 2.7x faster than the global apparel market overall by 2028 [2]

Resale represented 9% of the total global apparel market in 2023 [2]

Online resale is expected to nearly double by 2028 [2]

The global secondhand apparel market grew 15% in 2023 [2]

The U.S. online resale market is expected to nearly double by 2028 [2]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market was worth $39 billion in 2022 [3]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market is projected to reach $70 billion by 2027 [3]

The global secondhand apparel market was worth $177 billion in 2022 [3]

The global secondhand apparel market is projected to reach $289 billion by 2027 [3]

The global secondhand apparel market was projected to reach $218 billion by 2026 [4]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market was valued at $35 billion in 2021 [4]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market was expected to double by 2026 [4]

The global secondhand apparel market was expected to double in value to $77 billion by 2025 [25]

The secondhand market was projected to reach 1.5x the size of fast fashion by 2028 [2]

The global secondhand market was worth an estimated $36 billion in 2021 according to one cited estimate for resale [26]

The global market for second-hand products was expected to exceed $64 billion by 2024 [27]

The second-hand apparel market worldwide was forecast to exceed $350 billion by 2028 [26]

In the UK, the used clothing market was valued at approximately £6.4 billion in 2023 [28]

The UK used clothing market is forecast to reach around £7 billion in 2024 [28]

The global market value of vintage clothes and accessories was estimated at $96.96 billion in 2024 [29]

The vintage clothes and accessories market is expected to grow to $111.54 billion in 2025 [29]

The vintage clothes and accessories market is expected to reach $185.70 billion in 2029 [29]

The vintage clothes and accessories market grew at a historic CAGR of 15.0% [29]

The vintage clothes and accessories market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 13.6% from 2025 to 2029 [29]

The global secondhand luxury goods market was valued at €33 billion in 2021 [6]

The global market for collectible apparel reached $5.3 billion in 2023 according to one niche estimate tied to vintage-style collecting [30]

The resale value premium for rare vintage luxury handbags can exceed original retail prices by more than 20% [6]

The global luxury market reached €1.38 trillion in 2022 [6]

Personal luxury goods sales reached €353 billion in 2022 [6]

The secondhand luxury market reached €33 billion in 2021 [6]

71% of luxury customers said a brand’s circular services improve perception of the brand [5]

62% of luxury customers said resale increased their willingness to purchase from a brand [5]

41% of luxury customers said they discovered new brands through resale [5]

33% of luxury customers said they purchase pre-owned items to access investment pieces [5]

30% of luxury customers said they buy pre-owned items to access sold-out items [5]

The global sneakers resale market was estimated at $6 billion in 2019 [31]

The sneaker resale market was projected to grow to $30 billion by 2030 [31]

StockX facilitated more than $3.8 billion in trades in 2021 [32]

StockX had over 8 million lifetime buyers by the end of 2021 [32]

StockX had over 4 million lifetime sellers by the end of 2021 [32]

StockX sold more than 17 million products in 2021 [32]

60% of StockX trades in 2021 were for products that retailed below $300 [32]

eBay authenticated more than 1.6 million luxury items since launch of its Authenticity Guarantee through 2023 [7]

In 2023, eBay sold one luxury watch every 30 seconds globally [7]

In 2023, eBay sold one pair of sneakers every 2 seconds globally [7]

The RealReal’s average order value was $533 in 2023 [9]

The RealReal’s consignment gross merchandise value retention rate was 33.3% in 2023 [9]

The RealReal completed 3.3 million orders in 2023 [9]

The RealReal had 578,000 active consignors in 2023 [9]

The RealReal’s net revenues were $549 million in 2023 [9]

Vestiaire Collective said one in three items sold on its platform in 2023 was from a brand partner closet or professional seller channel [5]

The online personal luxury goods market represented 21% of the market in 2022 [6]

Luxury resale represented around 9% of the personal luxury goods market in 2022 [6]

65% of global consumers under 35 were already buying on resale platforms according to a cited luxury/resale survey [6]

45% of younger consumers said they would spend more on an apparel item if they knew they could resell it in the future [2]

Extending the active life of a garment by 9 months reduces its carbon, water and waste footprints by around 20-30% each [16]

Clothing in active use in the UK lasts an average of 3.3 years [16]

350,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year [16]

The average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes [16]

Around 30% of clothes in UK wardrobes have not been worn for at least a year [16]

Around £30 billion worth of unworn clothes are hanging in UK wardrobes [16]

The average number of times a garment is worn has decreased by 36% compared with 15 years ago [16]

Buying one used item of clothing reduces its carbon footprint by 82% compared with buying new [33]

Every second-hand item bought instead of new saves 3.5 kg of CO2e on average [33]

Vinted members reported that 84% of second-hand clothing purchases replaced the purchase of a new item [24]

Vinted estimated that buying second-hand instead of new for those purchases saved 679 kilotonnes of CO2e in 2023 [24]

Producing a new pair of jeans can require 3,781 litres of water [19]

The fashion industry is responsible for 2-8% of global carbon emissions [19]

The fashion industry consumes 215 trillion litres of water per year [19]

The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second [18]

Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing [18]

Customers miss out on $460 billion of value each year by throwing away clothes they could continue to wear [18]

Clothing production approximately doubled between 2000 and 2015 [18]

The number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago [18]

Greenhouse gas emissions from textiles production total 1.2 billion tonnes annually [18]

More than $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing underutilization and lack of recycling [18]

The average person buys 60% more items of clothing than 15 years ago [19]

Around 87% of the total fiber input used for clothing is ultimately incinerated or disposed of in landfill [18]

73% of clothing is ultimately landfilled or incinerated after use [18]

Washing synthetic clothes accounts for 35% of primary microplastics released into the oceans [19]

The textiles sector was responsible for the fourth highest pressure on the environment and climate change among EU consumption categories in 2020 [17]

EU citizens consumed on average 19 kg of textiles each in 2020 [17]

In the EU, 11 kg of textiles per person were discarded in 2020 [17]

Only 22% of post-consumer textile waste was collected separately for reuse or recycling in the EU in 2020 [17]

The average American throws away about 81.5 pounds of clothes each year [20]

Americans generate more than 16 million tons of textile waste every year [21]

In 2018, 11.3 million tons of textiles were landfilled in the U.S. [21]

In 2018, the U.S. textile recycling rate was 14.7% [21]

eBay’s global Circular Fashion Fund committed $1.2 million to support fashion startups [7]