Why have the pre-owned luxury fashion sites become so popular

(By: Jorge Gonzalez S, founder of FashionMall.online)

Have you noticed all the TV commercials about pre-owned luxury fashion stores?

How is it that such stores have become so popular and big?

There are several reasons to this. But first let’s go through some interesting numbers.

The total global market for fashion and apparel in the world was $1.53 trillion dollars in 2022 and estimated to be $1.73 trillion dollars in 2022 and from that it is estimated pre-owned fashion represents about 10%. By 2023 it is estimated the pre-owned fashion market reached 211 billion in sales and by 2027 it is estimated it will surpass 350 billion.

With such huge numbers it is no surprise those sites have become so popular and big. But there are other reasons to it as well.

Pre-owned fashion appeals to the ecologically conscious:

Apparel and footwear production accounts for about 4 to 8.6 % of global greenhouse gas emissions, and re-selling previously owned fashion and apparel prevents that pollution from happening.

Pre-owned fashion and apparel allows the owner to get rid of old things and buy new things:

Thanks to such sites, fashion aficionados can now recover significant money from items just sitting in their closets. They can go from keeping stuff simply stored and not being used for anything to turn that into cash and perhaps buy newer fashion.

Pre-owned fashion gives access to pricey things at a far more affordable price:

Some people love the idea of getting designer fashion or luxury items but they do not love the idea of paying full price or they simply do not have the money to pay for it new, but having the option of buying pre-owned makes such items much more affordable.

Some pre-owned fashion can even be an excellent investment:

This might sound counter intuitive but there are certain markets in fashion where you can even make money by buying and selling pre-owned items. Take for example Rolex Watches or the coveted Hermes Birkin Bags  and Hermes Kelly bags , just as some bags from Chanel or watches from brands like Cartier, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and others. Such items have tremendous fluctuations in price and also have geographical markets that are stronger than others. So it is absolutely possible to have scenarios where you can buy low in one market and sell for more in another market, and also it is very common to buy items when the economy is soft and hold them and sell them for far more when the economy gets stronger. So in essence such items have become some sort of commodity or financial instrument where if you buy low and sell high you can actually make money.

Whatever the reason it appears pre-owned fashion online stores are here to stay and growing immensely year after year.