Written By Gabriella Land
The days of luxury pieces being lifelong trophies parading one’s status might be coming to a close. In the past, only the most prestigious individuals could afford the exclusive designer items, serving as a true symbol of one’s status. Owning luxury was essentially one’s ticket to an exclusive club where your entry was based upon your ability to spend a significant amount of money on said piece. Nowadays, luxury pieces are being bought, traded, and resold in a market as hectic and mainstream as the one everyday stocks are traded in. Given this eroding exclusivity, this once premier club has increasingly become less selective with an uncharted back door now opening its doors to a wider range of purchasers. All of a sudden, the most rare luxury goods aren’t only for the socialites or elites of society, rather they appear on a millennials’ Instagram feeds on a resale site’s advertisement. This rise of secondhand and reselling of luxury truly challenges society’s traditional ideas of prestige. A new era of younger consumers now can access luxury goods for a fraction of the price, therefore redefining what it means to be a luxury “owner”.
Firstly, let’s examine the current state of the luxury market. Over the past five years, the luxury market has experienced a falter in its traditionally steady growth. While the pace of growth continued to be somewhat fast, with megabrands’ annual revenues grossing over $5.3 billion (Balchandani et al., 2025), is this growth truly due to expansion of the industry? Or, is the industry just adjusting to inflation? According to The Business of Fashion, “Price increases accounted for more than 80 percent of growth during this period, while volume gains were more moderate” (Balchandani et al., 2025). This data may lead some to believe that the luxury market is not actually attracting new buyers, rather just leveraging their pricing power and increasing prices to match rising costs of inflation that which their existing buyers will purchase. According to Business of Fashion, moving into 2025, the luxury industry is seeing an overall slow of growth, and “For the first time since 2016 (excluding 2020), luxury value creation declined” (Balchandani et al., 2025). These behavioral changes likely could be attributed to the ripple effect that occurs when economic uncertainty looms in the air. With a new president comes new policies, which can create uncertainty in the market. This lack of confidence can reduce consumers’ willingness to pay, causing them to tighten their budgets and overall reduce their discretionary spending. With less disposable income to spend on luxury, consumers are only spending on what they truly need and are on the hunt for more deals. This is where the resale industry comes into play.
With the resale of luxury goods, specifically online, the historically more exclusive market for these designer goods has redefined previous ideas of accessibility and the lifecycle of high-end fashion. The designer and luxury resale markets have been consistently growing recently and show no signs of slowing. According to Business Wire, “The market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of approx. 10% during the forecasted period of 2024-2029” (ResearchAndMarkets.com, 2025). A key driver in this growth is the ecommerce aspect, which include online resale sites often selling rare, vintage luxury items at discounted prices due to their secondhand nature. These digital platforms “are driving much of the sector’s growth, with a predicted expansion of 20–30 percent per annum,” compared to an annual 10–15% growth rate for the luxury resale market as a whole through 2030 (McKinsey, as cited in Karlyn, 2024). Some examples of these sites specializing in secondhand luxury include: The Real Real, Vestiaire Collective, and ThredUp. Still, more mainstream sites like Ebay and Poshmark also have expanded their secondhand designer offerings and are becoming more trusted over time.
This ecommerce aspect is especially attractive to younger generations, like Gen Z and Millennials, who typically spend more time online. Given younger generations’ strong online presence combined with lower average earnings, they are the ideal clientele for these markets. Furthermore, there is growing acceptance of vintage and pre-owned goods. The idea of scarcity directly plays into this growing demand for owning vintage. Not only are vintage items nostalgic, they are rare and exclusive, making them highly coveted and trendy. Additionally, sustainability can be linked to this increasing demand with more consumers, specifically younger generations, engaging in environmentally conscious spending habits viewing second hand luxury as a way to indulge in designer pieces keeping in mind their ecological footprint.
One platform leading this new era of second hand luxury sales is The Real Real, the largest online real luxury goods marketplace and is distinguished by their trusted authentication standards. Its user-friendly, easy to navigate interface allows consumers to balance luxury with value, increasing overall accessibility to designer products. Their service is not only convenient to buy, but to sellers as well. According to Forbes, “In fourth quarter 2023, it [The Real Real] reported positive adjusted EBITDA of $1.4 million and positive free cash flow for the first time since going public in 2019” (Danziger, 2024). Clearly, The Real Real is gaining status and trust and opening doors for similar luxury resale sites to succeed. With one challenge of the second hand luxury market being counterfeits and dupes, The Real Real mitigates this through their authentication process utilizing advanced AI technology to verify authenticity and in-home consignment processes where a luxury expert is sent to a potential seller’s home to assess the quality of an item.
As growth in the luxury industry slows, likely due to economic uncertainty, the luxury resale industry is thriving. The once exclusive club for luxury owners is now expanded to a new younger demographic whose demand is driven through the increasing appeal of vintage pieces, sustainability, and overall greater accessibility online to these luxury resale ecommerce sites. Luxury brands have taken different approaches in response to the potentially threatening thriving luxury resale market. On the one hand Chanel’s legal battle against The Real Real over trademark issues may point to their hesitancy or resistance to the new trend (Ning, 2023). But, on the other hand, some major luxury brands are taking resale into their own hands rather than leaving it to ecommerce platforms like The Real Real. Gucci, Balenciaga, and Rolex, for example, all have launched similar certified resale programs, offering second hand pieces directly through the brands themselves (Karlyn, 2024). As second hand platforms gain popularity by offering rare pieces at discounted prices in an era where vintage is strikingly trendy, luxury brands must find innovative ways to reaffirm the allure of buying new, positioning their offerings as superior to resale options and worth the price tag.
Today’s economic climate is volatile and uncertain, which is bound to change consumers’ behavior. With shifting policies, ongoing trade tensions, and tariffs, financial unpredictability may lead to consumers tightening their budget and engaging in less discretionary spending. Will this lead to less spending on luxury items? The rise of luxury resale platforms presents a compelling alternative, and is undeniably on the rise. Nevertheless, whether the luxury resale market continues to grow or not, it is clear that the notion of owning luxury is evolving. What was once an exclusive club reserved for the elite, the rise of second hand luxury has opened a door for a new, wider demographic of consumer, redefining prestige beyond mere wealth.
References
Balchandani, A., D’Auria, G., Amed, I., Grunberg, J., & McKinsey & Company. (2025, January 13). The State of Fashion: Luxury. The Business of Fashion. https://www.businessoffashion.com/reports/state-of-luxury-fashion-industry/#:~:text=Key%20insights,market%20growth%20through%20to%202027
Berg, A., Berjaoui, B., Iwatani, N., & Zerbi, S. (2021, November 29). Welcome to luxury fashion resale: Discerning customers beckon to brands. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/welcome-to-luxury-fashion-resale-discerning-customers-beckon-to-brands
Danziger, P. N. (2024, March 17). The RealReal May Have Turned The Corner To Profits In Luxury Resale. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2024/03/04/the-realreal-may-have-turned-the-corner-to-profits-in-luxury-resale/
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Ning, Z. (2023, June 8). Chanel v The RealReal, 2018 Trademark Lawsuit Case Study. Flatfee. https://flatfeecorp.com/articles/chanel-versus-therealreal-2018-trademark-lawsuit-europe
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