GEN Z LOVES TO BUY SECONDHAND

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Finding a vintage leather jacket online seemed straightforward, yet my search led to a dilemma between three nearly identical jackets, all oxblood red with tieable belts, priced at $60, $125, and $250. This overwhelming choice made me question the true cost of a secondhand jacket.

“Choice overload,” a byproduct of capitalism, left me dizzy amidst numerous options, making me consider $250 acceptable despite being four times the cheapest option. Coined by Alvin Toffler in 1970, this term describes the mental paralysis faced by modern consumers. It doesn’t prevent purchases but adds anxiety, especially in evaluating value.

The secondhand apparel market amplifies this complexity due to varying factors like item condition, brand label, materials, and seller knowledge. Resale marketplaces and professional sites further complicate matters, leading consumers to pay inflated prices for ordinary items.

Sarah Korsiak Cellier, a vintage specialist, notes the unpredictability in pricing on resale platforms, where individuals set rates, causing inconsistency and inflated values. This practice incentivizes sellers to mark up prices, sometimes unrealistically. While it’s a buyer’s market in secondhand clothing due to surplus, not all items are equal. Trendy or unique styles from certain eras can command higher prices based on mainstream trends.

In the real estate industry, market conditions favor either buyers or sellers. Similarly, in secondhand clothing, it’s a buyer’s market in the US due to thrift shop overflow, but not all items are equally desired, leading to inflated prices for trendy or unique pieces while many donations end up discarded.

Thrift store resellers are facing mounting criticism from consumers regarding their profit margins. Particularly targeted are young, seemingly affluent sellers who bulk-buy inexpensive items from places like Goodwill and resell them at higher prices on platforms like Depop. Critics argue that such resellers unintentionally drive up thrifted goods’ prices, a phenomenon termed “thrift store gentrification.” However, this ire might be better directed at profit-oriented thrift stores and loosely regulated resale platforms.

The increasing prominence of the resale market, buoyed by venture capital interest, exacerbates tensions surrounding the pricing of secondhand clothing. This begs the question: In a world with an abundance of clothes, is the value of garments more fluid than conventionally perceived?

Deborah Miller, a textile and clothing appraiser with experience appraising items for prestigious institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, emphasizes that online listed prices don’t always represent actual sale prices. Sellers with higher visibility can command higher prices for the same item. When assessing garment value, Miller suggests considering factors like condition, brand label, and uniqueness, comparing prices across different resale platforms to gauge reasonable ranges.

She highlights that the best deals often lurk on platforms like eBay, small antique shops, or at in-person sales like auctions or estate sales, where buyers can sometimes secure bulk deals at more favorable prices. Miller stresses that a garment can have varying values depending on the market, seller, buyer, and the sales platform, further complicating the determination of its true worth.

Before the internet era, vintage sellers mainly operated within local or regional spheres, occasionally traveling out-of-state to source goods. However, eBay revolutionized this landscape as one of the pioneering international resale platforms. It empowered independent sellers to reach a broader audience, becoming a primary destination for vintage enthusiasts seeking affordable items before the rise of platforms like Etsy and Depop. With a larger pool of potential buyers, sellers could charge higher prices.

The influence of social media further catalyzed the mainstream demand for vintage goods, according to Korsiak Cellier. Both part- and full-time sellers began investing more effort in styling and promoting items, consequently driving prices upward. This approach has seen tangible success, exemplified by entrepreneurs like Sophia Amoruso, who launched her clothing brand on eBay initially as a vintage seller before becoming the CEO of Nasty Gal, embodying the “girlboss” ethos.