It’s not just you: People are increasingly shopping secondhand for clothing, shoes and accessories, whether that’s at thrift stores, consignment shops or resale marketplaces.
In fact, data shows the secondhand shopping market is growing faster than traditional retail. The global secondhand shopping market is expected to hit $393 billion by 2030, growing twice as fast as traditional retail, according to a Resale Report by ThredUp, an online secondhand shopping site. The report also found that 59% of people in the United States shopped secondhand in 2025, up 7% from 2022.
This growing popularity led the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to include secondhand shopping purchases in its Consumer Price Index in early 2025, which tracks prices as a measure of inflation or deflation.
“It is more than just a trend,” said Taylor Bowley, an economist at Bank of America Institute. “It’s something that really does appear to be growing and really carving out its own niche within the broader U.S. economy.”
“When we step back and look at the reasons why there’s been this rise of resale over the last handful of years — you’ve got energy prices skyrocketing, you’ve got inflation [and] a couple years back we also saw it with tariffs,” said Alon Rotem, the chief strategy officer for ThredUp. “Tariffs basically made imported clothing much more expensive than domestic clothing.”
Secondhand clothing isn’t subject to tariffs, Stephanie E. Raible, an associate professor of social innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware, explained. Tariffs apply to items coming in from other countries, and secondhand items come directly from someone’s closet in California, Maine, Illinois, or whatever state they’re located in.
Tariffs also affect the cost of historically cheap fast fashion, which is now rising, Raible said. (Though the quality isn’t generally improving, which is another draw for the secondhand market, Raible noted.) Most fast fashion is imported from countries such as China — again, making it subject to tariffs.
“This ties into the broader economic trends when it comes to consumer behavior because prices are so high, and there is this push to find things that are within budget,” Bowley said.
People are fighting against inflation by also selling their clothing on secondhand websites and in secondhand stores.
Many major secondhand shopping companies, such as Poshmark, ThredUp, and Depop, rely on the shopper for their inventory. People list clothes on these secondhand marketplaces and make money when their listings sell.
“Honestly, one of the reasons why we do see a rise in secondhand is because it allows you to do a closet clean-out, but also get a little extra pocket change,” Bowley said. “And the number of Bank of America customers that were selling secondhand clothing was up 16%.”
“That’s a pretty strong growth rate,” Bowley added.
This is happening in an economy where prices for everyday items are rising, she noted.
“People are increasingly also looking to have a second income stream,” Bowley said. “Secondhand fashion offers the opportunity to not only shop but also participate in a way to earn a little extra money and also do so in a sustainable way.”
Most people don’t sell their items monthly; it’s less frequent than that, but the data show it’s increasing.
Images By Tang Ming Tung via Getty Images
Major traditional retailers are also getting in on the popularity of secondhand shopping.
When you think of major traditional retailers, you likely don’t think of them selling worn, past-season, resold clothes — but many are starting to do just that.
“As the secondhand market is growing, we are now seeing a lot of [mainstream] retailers … starting to get into the secondhand market,” Raible said. This isn’t just true for brands like Patagonia, which have prioritized resale for a long time; it is also true for Levi’s, Lululemon and more.
“You can actually go on their websites and you can find secondhand options embedded within their e-commerce strategy,” Raible noted.
Mainstream retailers are seeing the power of secondhand shopping both for the customer and their bottom line.
“We’re actually seeing even more retailers starting to come up with whole new strategies and branches to capitalize on the fact that there is this demand from [the secondhand market] and also people looking to save money and to lean into environmentally conscious values that they have,” Raible said.
As climate change concerns mount, secondhand shopping offers a better-for-the-environment way to shop.
Most people understand that shopping at your local thrift store or online secondhand marketplace is a better choice for the environment than buying something brand new or throwing away a sweater you don’t wear anymore as opposed to donating it or reselling it.
“More than 80% of clothes that people have and they don’t wear anymore, they end up throwing them in the trash,” Rotem said.
“Something that ThredUp has tried to shine a light on is like the fact that the fashion industry is the number two polluting industry in the world,” Rotem added, “and that means that when people buy fast fashion and they wear something once or twice and and throw it out, they’re contributing to a major environmental problem in in this country and in the world.”
Sustainability is a focus for many secondhand marketplaces, shoppers and sellers. This is especially true for Gen Z and millennials who are more environmentally conscious, Raible noted, and the ones who are helping secondhand shopping boom in popularity.
“I also think secondhand fashion is really unique because it taps into the word value in two different ways. When quite literally, you can get a bargain, but then also for some shoppers, it also aligns with values for themselves … if they’re looking to do something a little bit more sustainable and reducing waste,” Bowley said.
Sustainability matters to many secondhand shoppers, but value and price remain paramount, Rotem said.
“They come to resale because the prices are great and the products are great, and it’s sort of a secondary consideration that it’s a sustainable activity,” he said.
Secondhand shopping isn’t expected to be a trend that drops off if other prices go down.
“The secondhand is resale is growing … four times faster than traditional retail,” Rotem said. “This is the 14th year we’ve done our resale report. Every single year the market gets bigger, and the entrants get bigger.”