The global secondhand apparel market is projected to reach 393 billion dollars by 2030, growing twice as fast as the overall apparel market, per ThredUp's 2026 Resale Report, the fourteenth annual edition produced with GlobalData. The report, released in July 2026 and covered by WWD, projects a 7.3 percent compound annual growth rate from 2025 to 2030, adding 23.3 billion dollars in incremental market value over the period.
The structural detail matters more than the headline: per the report, new shoppers will account for 64 percent of resale's growth by 2030. The market is no longer carried by committed thrifters expanding their share; it is adding people. And in 2025, per the report's US data, the American secondhand market grew nearly four times faster than the broader retail clothing market.
Why resale growth is now "structural," per the report
ThredUp's framing this year — a "new era of structural" growth, per its investor release — rests on three durable drivers. First, price: tariff pressure and two years of price increases in primary apparel pushed new-garment prices up while resale supply exploded, widening the arbitrage a secondhand shopper captures. Second, trade-in infrastructure: brand-run take-back and store-credit programs now feed inventory to resale channels automatically, converting closet cleanup into purchasing power. Third, normalization: resale moved from a value hack to a default channel, with the report's survey data showing broad mainstream acceptance across age groups rather than concentration among younger, price-sensitive shoppers.
Related stories: LVMH First Half 2026: 38.6 Billion Euros and Growth That Accelerated · LVMH Q3 2025: The World's Largest Luxury Group Returned to Growth.
What the numbers mean for luxury specifically
Secondhand's growth curve intersects luxury at the top of the market. Designer handbags, watches and outerwear hold value well enough to trade at prices that make the original purchase defensible — the resale market functions, in effect, as a price support for the primary one. That is why the large groups watch these reports: per ThredUp's projections, the categories growing fastest in resale are exactly the durables luxury sells. The contrast with 2025's group earnings is the point — LVMH returned to modest organic growth and Kering's revenue fell 13 percent, per their releases, while the secondary market for the goods they make compounded at 7 percent. Value migrated to the secondary channel during the downturn; the question for 2027 pricing is how much stays there.
For readers, the report translates into a simple purchasing rule it makes quantitative: a garment's resale half-life is now a legitimate factor in cost per wear. Buy the wool coat with a proven secondary market over the trend piece with none, and the spread — per the report's 7.3 percent growth math — increasingly pays part of the difference back.