3 Fascinating Reasons to Embrace Second-Hand Clothing

Second-hand clothing is the latest trend, and it’s going to overtake fast fashion in next few years. Fast-fashion is the speed-to-market business model causing fashion waste crisis while secondhand is here to overcome the crisis caused by fashion waste. 

As saying goes,"Your trash can become someone's treasure" - Secondhand clothing is all about treasure.

According to the World Economic Forum, the market value of secondhand clothing has reached $24Bn by 2018 and is expected to get double in the middle of the next decade. Click to Tweet

By 2029, it is expected to reach $51 Bn. People across the world are taking up secondhand clothing. The current growth rate for adopting used goods is 37% and 46% respectively over the last 2 years.

Secondhand clothing business is booming as the market uniquely meets the consumers’ preference for value, variety, and sustainability. Below listed are the reasons that will surely make you embrace the secondhand hand clothing.

1) Pay less for more

Obviously, used clothes are cheaper than the new ones. Expensive clothes are no more expensive! You will find expensive brands falling into your budget. While shopping, we need to vote for what is right with our pocket. Second-hand clothing market understands your pocket well and offers you the best.

Research from ThredUP’s has found that shoppers from all price level are buying secondhand clothes. At the luxury retail end, 26% of shoppers buy used goods. In the mid-market, it stands at 25% and 22% depending on discounts. The secondhand market has provided an awesome budget to shoppers.

2) Dress for the planet

Fashion is the 2^nd largest polluting industry in the world. Fabrics aren’t biodegradable, and industry’s raw materials consume a vast amount of resources and leave behind huge levels of pollution and emissions- around 20% of the world’s wastewater and 10% of carbon emission comes from the fashion industry, reported by UNECE.

What happens to our used clothes? 64% of what we buy ends up in landfills. Buying used goods instead of new extend the cloth’s life and reduce the garment’s carbon footprint by 82%. The Secondhand market is reducing pressure on virgin resources used for making new clothes and the number of problems caused by their manufacture and usage. To attain sustainability, we should be conscious about 5Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent and Repair.

If we all can buy just ONE used cloth instead of new, we can really make a huge collective positive impact on our planet.

3) Personalize your style

Secondhand clothing has personalized the style for everyone. Now you don’t really need to visit big shops to pick the trendy style that everyone else is picking. The secondhand market has a huge variety of vintage fashion. Grab your style. Be more specific. Be more creative. Be classier.

When you buy used goods, your style is more personal, and your fashion becomes timeless. Uniqueness and style are more important for the shopper who buys second-hand clothing. Millennials are embracing the trend with 33% of shoppers buying used clothes. Gen X is a long way behind at 20% while Gen Z, the new kids on the block, at 16%. Young shoppers are embracing vintage fashion. These Generations are constantly bombarded with trendy, cheap and classy styles.

However, Millennials and Gen Z are expected to drive the secondhand clothing market. Secondhand shopping brings vintage style back in trends and allows you to experiment with new unique fashion.

Fight on Fashion

Fashion is cyclical. By embracing secondhand clothing, you can breakdown the stigma of second-hand clothing. We all need to fight on fashion to live a healthy and wealthy life. Inspire others to join the fight on fashion by embracing used goods.