Gen Z and millennial buyers who shop secondhand luxury first and full retail second, treating authenticated vintage pieces as a store of value rather than a discount. The core pain point is trust: counterfeits are now so sophisticated that even experienced buyers cannot reliably spot fakes, and the wrong purchase destroys the investment thesis entirely.
The global luxury resale market hit $41.6 billion in 2026, growing at 9.6% annually, while new personal luxury goods growth is stuck at just 2.5% (Morgan Stanley, May 2026) — meaning resale is capturing the spending that new retail is losing.
64% of Gen Z shoppers now go secondhand first (Forbes/NRF data, April 2026), and BCG estimates 45% of their handbag wardrobes are already secondhand — the default purchase behavior has flipped from new to pre-owned for the category's fastest-growing buyer cohort.
US tariffs pushed apparel import rates to a multi-decade high in 2026, and a ReturnPro survey found 59% of American consumers would shift to secondhand if new luxury prices keep rising — tariff-driven inflation is actively funneling demand into the resale channel.
The exact words they type into Google.
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