The rise of the resale second-hand market in fashion

The rise of the second-hand resale market. Vinted is the leader among the TOP 100 Cross-Border Sustainable Marketplaces operating in the EU27 and the UK.

Brussels, 09 December 2021. The EU fashion resale second-hand market is projected to double in the next five years (2025), reaching a total of 34 billion euro. 90 million shoppers have tried reselling for the first time in 2021 compared to 16 million in 2020. The resale fashion market is currently growing 11 times faster than traditional retail.

By 2030 the resale market will be twice as big as the fast fashion market. Those are the takeaways from the second edition of “TOP 100 Cross-Border Sustainable Marketplaces Europe”.

Cross-Border Commerce Europe conducted a study with support from its Research Partners, FedEx Express and Worldline.

The ‘Top 100 Cross-Border Sustainable Marketplaces operating in Europe’ is a compilation of cross-border sustainability data of the best-performing marketplaces websites.

The ranking is based on a score of 100 across ten weighted KPIs:

I.    Cross-border sustainability objectives
II.   Cross-border sustainable business model
III.  Cross-border sustainable shopping experience
IV.   Sustainability certification & labels
V.    Sustainable product assortment
VI.   Sustainable last-mile delivery & transport carriers
VII.  Brand partners
VIII. Far East manufacturing & transport
IX.   CO2 carbon footprint measurement
X.    Sustainability executives (CSR)

This study considers all types of online platforms (B2C, B2B, C2C, P2P) and covers all sectors except travel and sharing platforms.

The Top 10 Global Cross-Border Sustainable Marketplaces operating in Europe are:

1. Vinted (Lithuania)

2. eBay (US)

3. Vestiaire Collective (FR)

4. StockX (US)

5. Depop (UK)

6. Artpal (US)

7. Etsy (US)

8. Rubylane (US)

9. Amazon (US)

10. Spoonflower (US)

C2C resale second-hand marketplaces dominate this TOP 10

• Nr1 Vinted from Lithuania achieved a score of 70/100 and has a fantastic track record (market cap €4 billion) with a state-of-the-art C2C platform. The Vinted marketplace symbolizes the “rise of the resale market”. With nearly €2,75bn GMV, Vinted has a resale market share of almost 40% in Europe.

• US tech-centric C2C resale Marketplaces’ successful IPOs from ThredUP, Redbubble and Poshmark prove the power of efficient growth of sustainable businesses and circular models. 45% of online shoppers have already bought a circular product. 7% for refurbished, 3% for recycled, 11% for customized and 66% for second-hand resale goods. A preloved vintage second-hand ladies’ dress saves 4.3 kg of CO², the equivalent of driving a car 17 km compared with a new dress. Wearing a garment for just nine months longer reduces 20% of its footprint.

• Etsy’s Depop purchase is only the beginning of resale consolidation. Resale is big: noticing a 31% increase in secondhand listings on eBay for the past 3 years. 70% of second-hand buyers make their first luxury purchase on vintage resale marketplaces, and 59% of luxury product buyers say they are concerned by the issue of sustainability.

• The other best-scoring sustainable European marketplaces are Vestiaire Collective from France with eRank #3 as a resale marketplace, Spreadshirt from Germany with eRank #14 as a customization Marketplace, Asos from the UK with eRank #17, Zalando from Germany with eRank #19,  Bol.com from the Netherlands with eRank #20, Leboncoin from France with eRank #21) as a second-hand marketplace, Tradera from Sweden with eRank #24 as a second-hand marketplace, Farfetch from Portugal-UK with eRank #26, Rebuy from Germany with eRank #28 as a refurbished marketplace, Momox from Germany-France with eRank #30.

• Marketplaces have an important market share of about 50% for online consumer goods cross-border B2C and C2C purchases in Europe and benefit from “e-Commerce leads the way to a more sustainable and circular future”. By 2030 the resale market will be twice as big as the fast fashion market (x2). By the end of this decade, secondhand fashion will overtake fast fashion, and the resale segment will lead the second-hand market.

But marketplaces face some severe challenges.  Supply-chain logistics’ bottle-necks due to post-COVID high online purchases harm sustainability efforts from marketplaces, critical consumers changing attitude toward sustainability, retailers and brands embracing DTC (direct-to-consumer) not relying on marketplaces concerning sustainability, considerable investments in green warehouses and last-mile logistics, further innovation is requested for sustainable solutions to reduce and handle online returns.

Returns are a trillion-euro problem for the online fashion retail industry. How do virtual fitting rooms become the next retail battleground? Virtual try-on has swiftly emerged as one method of reducing those returns. Returns are only recycled or disposed of in rare cases. 85% of clothing worldwide ends up in landfills. Every second, the equivalent of a rubbish truckload of clothes is burnt or buried in a landfill. Only 1% of fashion goods are recycled.

30% of the TOP 10 C2C sustainable marketplaces work on reducing the carbon emissions from their operations by implementing direct shipping within the EU. These marketplaces also offset CO² emissions by adhering to carbon-neutral energy programs.