Footwear Retailers Launch Branded Resale, but Who’s Buying?

While apparel retailers are increasingly making forays into branded resale, creeping behind is footwear. Recently, Toms Shoes launched its resale initiative in partnership with thredUP and Sam Edelman in partnership with Archive, indicating that consumers are willing to not only resell items across more categories than just apparel and accessories, but they’re willing to buy them — at least that’s the assumption.

Jumping on the Resale Bandwagon

Resale provides consumers with the opportunity to wear high-quality clothing and accessories without contributing to the environmental impact of fast fashion — a key priority for Gen Z, and resale offers just that.

But with new values and consumer demands come cold, hard data points that drive brands and retailer investments.

Initially, the secondhand market was dominated by third-party platforms such as thredUP, Vestiaire Collective, Poshmark, The RealReal, and eBay. Their significant share propelled the global worth of the market to $184 billion by 2022.

The swift expansion of the resale sector brought about widespread adoption of peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, extending the life of apparel and accessories and meeting substantial consumer demand. However, it also caused significant disruption for brands.

In April 2022, PYMNTS reported that more and more brands were taking resale in-house to gain control of the experience, with fashion labels like Oscar de la Renta and even Target looking to launch their own initiatives.

See also: More Fashion Retailers Take Resale in-House to Control Experience, Data and Dollars

Today, the global secondhand apparel market is expected to nearly double by 2027.

According to a report by thredUP released in early April, the market is set to double from $177 billion in 2022 to $351 billion in 2027, largely due to consumer demand for value. Additionally, the report found that the secondhand clothing market in the United States is predicted to expand from $39 billion in 2022 to $70 billion in 2027.

“Resale is starting to blossom globally, with many of the largest retailers in the world adopting more circular business models,” thredUP CEO James Reinhart said in the report. “While value continues to be a key driver that motivates consumers to think secondhand first, global climate issues have increased awareness of resale’s potential to reduce fashion’s impact on the environment.

That said, high-end brands recognize that the shift towards branded resale is not a fleeting trend, but a lasting change in consumer behavior that they want to embrace. By partnering with branded reCommerce solutions like Reflaunt, Archive and Trove, brands such as Lululemon, Patagonia, Eileen Fisher, Canada Goose, and Carhartt are more likely to maintain a constant presence in the shopping conversation, rather than being a one-time occurrence. This approach allows them to reclaim their identity in the resale space and gain market share, as noted by PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in 2022.

See also: Trove Leads Lululemon, Canada Goose and Carhartt Into Resale Boom

Edelman’s Foray Into Secondhand

Sam Edelman’s resale initiative enables customers to sell their gently used shoes on the company’s official website, offering an eco-friendlier option to update their wardrobe while also prolonging the lifespan of Sam Edelman’s products.

Jesse Edelman, who serve as general manager and senior vice president of Sam Edelman, said, “Our brand is committed to crafting durable pieces using premium materials, and we take great pride in that. Through ReLove, we were able to further the lifespan of our products and offer our customers an additional option for purchasing our footwear.”

Through the program, customers are able to handpick the Sam Edelman items they wish to sell and establish a listing by furnishing photographs and a description. Once the item was sold, the seller is given a prepaid label for shipping the product to the buyer. Sellers can either opt for monetary compensation or Sam Edelman credit as their mode of payment.

Toms Shoes’ (re)Wear Good

In collaboration with thredUP, Toms Shoes has also introduced its own resale initiative through a new website section called (re)Wear Good, which aims to provide customers with a selection of gently used and “new with tags” products.

“We’re always investing in increasing the sustainability of our product line,” said Toms’ Chief Brand Officer Amy Smith. “We’re always looking at how we can green our packaging even more. … There are a lot of things that we’re doing in this area, and this just seemed like another important piece of the equation for us.”

To begin the process, customers can request a free Clean Out label through the Toms’ website. After receiving the label, they need to pack their items in a box, attach the label, and send it to thredUP via USPS or FedEx. If any of the items are sold on the platform, the seller will receive an e-gift card for Toms.com. The entire process typically takes 75-90 days, according to thredUP. Any items that do not meet thredUP’s resale standards will be redirected for recycling or reuse.

According to Smith, Toms has been considering resale for about a year and started collaborating with thredUP around six months ago. As many Toms customers were already using thredUP to resell their shoes, Toms saw an opportunity to promote and facilitate the process.

Future of Footwear and Resale

While it’s clear that consumers are willing to sell their lightly used footwear, it remains to see who is actually buying them.

As the rental market — HURR Collective currently enables consumers to rent designer shoes — and resale market continue to expand, there is an opportunity for footwear to capture a greater portion of the resale market and can help to reduce the trend of 300 million pairs of shoes discarded by Americans each year, which ultimately end up in landfills, as reported by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

But only time and the consumer will tell if the footwear category has a place in resale. And if they do, we’ll quickly learn what types of brands were meant to thrive and the ones that weren’t.