The fashion industry is moving into a much more sustainable position, a new report has suggested. According to Thredup – which is a secondhand online store based in the United States – the next 10 years will see the resale market grow much faster than traditional retail with secondhand clothing expected to be twice the size of fast fashion by the year 2030.
According to the global report – which was conducted by Thredup with analysis by market research firm GlobalData – the resale market is growing at a rate 11 times faster than traditional retail and should be worth $84 billion by 2030, with fast fashion predicted to be worth about $40 billion.
The data suggests that secondhand fashion is also growing at a much faster rate than sustainable fashion with consumers turning to resale more and more, which has partly happened due to the emergence of more and easier-to-use resale sites, making it more straightforward and appealing for consumers to both sell and buy secondhand goods.
This has happened quite dramatically over the past 12 months. Thredup quoted that 118 million consumers have tried reselling for the first time in 2021, compared with just 36.2 million first-time sellers in 2020.
