New York — According to industry experts, stores selling secondhand clothes, shoes, and accessories stand to benefit from President Donald Trump’s trade war, even as businesses around the world scramble to avoid potential damage.
Although American fashions have an international effect, practically all apparel marketed in the United States is manufactured elsewhere. Last week, the Yale University Budget Lab forecast short-term consumer price hikes of 65% for clothing and 87% for leather products, adding that US tariffs “disproportionately affect” those goods.
Such price increases may push budget-conscious buyers to online resale sites, consignment boutiques, and thrift stores in search of deals or a method to turn their clothes into cash. Used things are less expensive than new items, and they are only subject to tariffs if they are imported from another country.
“I think resale is going to grow in a market that is declining,” said Kristen Classi-Zummo, an apparel industry analyst at Circana. “What I think is going to continue to win in this chaotic environment are channels that bring value.”
The outlook for pre-owned clothes remains uncertain, especially whether the president’s tariffs will last long enough to affect customers and change their behaviour. It’s also uncertain whether secondhand sellers will raise their own pricing, either to reflect the general market or in reaction to consumer demand.
Sticker shock brings in a new audience
Jan Genovese, a retired fashion executive, sells her unwanted designer clothes on customer-to-customer websites like Mercari. If tariffs raise retail prices, she would consider high-end secondhand stores.
“Until I see it and really have that sticker shock, I can’t say exclusively that I’ll be pushed into another direction,” Genovese, who’s 75 years old, said. “I believe that the tariff part requires you to rethink things. And maybe I’ll start looking for alternative locations.”
The secondhand clothing market was already thriving before tariffs threatened the American fashion sector. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, management consulting firm McKinsey and Co. forecasted that global revenue from pre-owned fashion would rise 11 times faster than retail garment sales this year as consumers sought to save money or spend it in a more ecologically aware manner.
While millennials and Generation Z were previously thought to be the key buyers of used clothing, data from market research firm Sensor Tower suggests the audience may be expanding.
Sensor Tower reported that the number of mobile app downloads for nine resale marketplaces it analyses — eBay, OfferUp, Poshmark, Mercari, Craigslist, Depop, ThredUp, TheRealReal, and Vinted — grew by 3% between January and the end of March, the first quarterly increase in three years.
The business estimates that downloads of the eBay, Depop, ThredUp, and The RealReal applications increased compared to the previous year for the week of March 31, when Trump announced punishing tariffs on dozens of nations, which have since been stopped.
Circana’s Classi-Zummo noted that although clients used to seek out valuable or odd antique pieces to augment their wardrobes, she has witnessed more people turning to secondhand sites to replace ordinary fashion products.
“It’s still a cheaper option” than buying new, even with retailer discounts, she noted.
A tariff-free gold trove lying in closets and warehouses
Poshmark, a digital marketplace where users buy and sell pre-owned apparel, has yet to notice a boost in sales as a result of Trump’s tariff program, but CEO Manish Chandra is ready to capitalise on the opportunity.
Companies that run e-commerce platforms enhance their technology to make it easier to find products. A visual search feature and other improvements to the Poshmark experience would “pay long dividends in terms of market disruption caused by tariffs,” according to Chandra.
Archive, a San Francisco-based technology firm that creates and administers online and in-store resale programs for brands such as Dr Martens, The North Face, and Lululemon, has witnessed a growing urgency among apparel manufacturers to collaborate, according to CEO Emily Gittins.
“Tapping into all of the inventory that is already sitting in the U.S., either in people’s closets or in warehouses that are not being used,” she said, provides an income stream while companies reduce or suspend purchases from overseas manufacturers.