Coronavirus And Luxury Retail: Shopping For Used Hermes, Cartier In COVID Era

No matter what it’s called — resale, re-commerce, luxury consignment or pre-loved — the market for secondhand fashion was booming before the COVID-19 pandemic upended the lives, and financial security, of millions of people. All those clothes in your closet? The ones you haven’t worn in years, but just can’t bring yourself to get rid of, or even donate? Well, how about selling them? A growing number of consumers in recent years were beginning to view the items in their wardrobe not just as a means of expressing their personal style, but as valuable, tradable assets. That Gucci or Hermes bag costing thousands of dollars and that you once loved, but no longer use? Rather than sitting on a shelf, collecting dust, you can now put it on an online secondhand retail site such as The RealReal, Poshmark or ThredUp, and get cash for it. Luxury apparel and accessories consignment grew to a $24 billion market before COVID, and has been projected to reach $51 billion by 2023, driven largely — but not exclusively — by millennials and Gen Z. Read more at CNBC.