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Pre-loved, pre-owned, thrift, second hand… Whatever they call them inside and outside the Greek market, used clothes that are available for sale again are a bright field of glory for chains such as Zara and H&M, platforms such as Shein , but also specialized apps such as the established Depop and the newcomer Vinted, which are aimed at the large consumer base.

However, it is not a new trend, but it has returned to the fore, reborn as a means of fashion sustainability and an expression of the circular economy, in the context of the environmental ethics and ESG policies of the companies that have appeared in Greece in recent years. A trend that also extended to the luxury sector, while it resonated with the younger consumer public.

It’s vintage, you fool

Its history begins in European cities between the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance in the fourteenth century. At that time, few people could afford new clothes, given their exorbitant price. Each piece was unique, custom made and used for years or decades. Dresses were passed from mother to daughter as an inheritance, and masters could give their servants their worn clothes as a form of payment or currency.

As Medium reports, in Venice, the Strazzaruoli had to undergo 5 years of training to run their own thrift store or Mercato Vecchio in Florence, where the Rigattieri were very popular among the less favored for selling clothes at low prices but good quality.

The second-hand clothing trade developed into an important industry in the early 1800s, when the industrial revolution caused the population of many countries to grow too rapidly, which domestic production could not keep up with.

In the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with the arrival of prêt-à-porter and its standardized sizes, second-hand clothing lost its appeal and gradually became an export product to African countries.

War-torn Europe gave a different and sometimes negative connotation to the idea of ​​second-hand clothes, which returned with a new sheen in the 90s as vintage, expensive pieces idolized by shows like Sex & the City. To get to today, where second hand has ideological characteristics in Greece as well, with consumers associating the bad with the useful.

What do Greeks buy?

It is noted that in 2022 the category of retail that had the highest percentage increase compared to 2021 was used items (+41%), according to ELSTAT.

The second-hand trend became more noticeable during the pandemic due to its hybrid approach through technology, which happened at a global level. It is typical that 4 out of 10 Greek consumers who acquired a used product made their purchases through an online store , according to data from Focus Bari | YouGov.

Based on research by Vendora.gr, the most important motivation for second-hand purchases, according to 8 out of 10 respondents, is saving money.

The same is happening internationally. 68% of Gen Z buyers polled by data analytics firm Morning Consult said saving money is an important reason for buying used, compared to 26% who said sustainability was the main reason. While a Boston Consulting Group study showed that the global second-hand goods market has tripled in value in relation to the 2020 pandemic.

In fact, younger consumers seem to choose second-hand purchases more and in Greece their percentage reaches 69%, in the age group of 18-24 years, when among those over 55 only four out of ten say that they have made similar purchases .

Besides, the latest figures announced by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) and concerning the development of the turnover of retail trade businesses, in May the turnover of second-hand goods businesses recorded a 30.6% increase on a monthly basis, but also an increase of 15.5% on an annual basis.

The Zara and H&M moves

From December 2023, the Zara Pre-Owned platform started operating in Greece as well, which enables customers of the popular brand to extend the life cycle of clothes through repair, resale and donations.

Zara was already one of the most popular second-hand brands, with at least 700,000 listings on major resale platforms such as Depop, Ebay and Vestiaire Collective.

Expected growth of the second-hand clothing sales market. Interesting following the announcement of the launch of #Zara Pre-Owned in Spain by #Inditex pic.twitter.com/TX0qXCyruG

— Laura Blanco (@78laurablanco) December 5, 2023

The Swedish H&M moved accordingly, launching the Pre-Loved service, with approximately 30,000 items of used women’s and children’s clothing and accessories on hm.thredup.com.

In addition, the group is the main owner of Sellpy, the online platform that aims to make buying and selling second-hand items as easy as possible, taking care of the whole process – photographing, listing and shipping the items when they are sold. From 2022, Sellpy’s range has been integrated into H&M’s online stores in Germany and Sweden.

Shein’s reaction

At the beginning of June, Shein launched the Exchange service first in France and then in Britain and Germany.

Accessed directly through the existing app, the feature simplifies the process of reselling products through an improved interface that pre-populates a list of the customer’s previous SHEIN purchases and a button next to each one that says “sell” – making listing products a quick and easy process.

The development of Shein Exchange in Europe follows the launch of the platform in the US in October 2022. Since its launch, the platform continues to attract new users and registrations – in 2023, over 4.2 million new users signed up to the service in USA, while over 115,000 used items are listed for sale by over 95,000 unique sellers.

Newcomer Vinted

Within a few years, Milda Mitkute ​​and Justas Janauskas’ app traveled from post-Soviet Lithuania to the world, making Vinted a rising force in secondhand of all kinds. In 2011, the Lithuanian businessman Mantas Mikuckas joined their company as an angel investor and today it is supported by a series of venture capital funds, while it recently entered the Greek market as well.

The company is competing with Britain’s Depop and Vestiare Collective (in which the French group Kering has invested) for its own share of a market that is currently worth 177 billion and is expected to exceed 350 billion by 2027 (Resale ThredUp Report).

And other players

The Greek market attracted the interest of the Bulgarian chain Mania, which operates in the outlet and second-hand clothes sector, which opened a store in the center of Athens.

The Lithuanian Humana, which last year founded a company for the resale of products and clothes, moved accordingly, according to the model with which the public organization Humana Second Hand Fundraising Projects operates at least 270 points in 13 countries.

Dominant in online resale and shopping is depop.com, a site and app that specializes in buying and selling used items, but mainly clothes. 2022 saw gross sales of $552 million, nearly double 2019 ($288 million). A year ago it was sold for $1.6 billion on Etsy and today it has around 35 million users.