California's Thrifted Fashion Revolution: How the Golden State's Companies are Disrupting the Industry
In a world where fast fashion is often synonymous with environmental disaster, a new trend is emerging: thrifted fashion. And California is at the forefront of this revolution. The state's companies, such as San Francisco's RealReal, Redwood City's Poshmark, Oakland's ThredUp, and others, have propelled this movement, turning what was once an old-fashioned way to save money into a booming industry at the cutting edge of style.
The numbers are staggering. The secondhand clothing market grew 20% to more than $240 billion over the last five years, according to McKinsey & Co.'s State of Fashion report. This growth is driven by technology developed by companies around the San Francisco Bay Area, which has turned the fashion industry on its head.
Trailblazers like Craigslist and EBay showed the potential of online listings of anything. Fashion specialists tried to add more ways to transact, giving sellers more checks and balances and adding delivery and payment methods to help buyers feel safe.
The fashion industry turbocharged the trend with limited-edition drops from brands like Nike and Supreme, meaning the only way to get your hands on an Air Max shoe or T-shirt collaboration was through a resale site at astronomical markups.
Any stigma of buying fashion secondhand is gone. Shoppers are running mini resale businesses as the investment value of certain luxury brands has soared. A whole social media ecosystem emerged with influencers sharing their finds and recommendations. On YouTube, L.A.-based influencer Emma Chamberlain's thrift store hauls went viral. Other creators gained a following by turning thrift-store finds into trendy items.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, secondhand shopping sites took off. People were looking to empty out their closets and make extra cash. Reselling became a side hustle for many and a full-time job for some.
When ThredUp Chief Executive James Reinhart founded the company in 2009, he hoped to change the secondhand fashion market by giving people a place to easily send in used clothing and browse millions of sorted, listed items. Climate & Environment
New clothes are fun, especially when the price is right. But how long can we support fast fashion with its bad-for-environment, bad-for-workers infrastructure? At the time, resale brought to mind old, dusty clothes in the back of a closet and rummaging through thrift store racks just to put on someone else’s shoes. It was something that required a level of coercion. It was, "You should do this. It's good for you. It's good for your wallet. It's good for the planet."
In 2011, two other sites emerged: Poshmark, with a peer-to-peer marketplace, and the RealReal, focused on luxury items and authentication services. By 2021, the companies had gone public, though South Korean tech giant Naver Corp. bought out Poshmark two years later for $1.2 billion. EBay has been investing more in fashion resale and authentication services. In July, it acquired Depop, a trendy secondhand fashion platform based in London, for $1.2 billion.
According to the McKinsey report, secondhand shopping is growing at four times the speed of retail, at around 12% per year. Traditional retail shopping is boring, Reinhart said. Many stores carry iterations of the same styles, and in the wake of fast fashion, buying vintage clothing is the easiest way to be sure that what you're wearing is different.
"Now when generations are coming of age, there's no stigma, there's nothing odd about shopping at a thrift store or shopping secondhand," Reinhart said. "If anything, it's the other way, which is it's the cool thing that kids want to do.
Written by: Jony Spark | The Citizen Edition
“Genius at work, people!”