Fast-Fashion Retailers Like Zara And H&M Have A New Threat: The $24 Billion Used Clothes Market

by MR Magazine Staff Mar 19, 2019

Apparel retailers such as Zara and H&M dominate the world of fast fashion, with Zara owner Inditex making 3.44 billion euros ($3.9 billion) in profit in 2018. But along with competition from online shoppers (web sales at Inditex made up 12 percent of total sales, versus a U.S. average of 27 percent), consumers’ desire for brand-new clothing may be waning. People are set to invest in used fashion over new clothes, according to a report published Tuesday. The second hand apparel market was worth $24 billion in the U.S. in 2018, versus $35 billion for fast-fashion, say the figures from online store thredUP and retail analytics firm GlobalData released on Tuesday. However, by 2028 the used-fashion market is set to skyrocket in value to $64 billion in the U.S., while fast-fashion will only reach $44 billion. Read more at CNBC.