Over the past few years, reports from the Lyst platform have shown an increase in interest in second-hand clothing. And the pandemic can once again contribute to this.
According to the latest Lyst Conscious Fashion Report 2020, demand for pre-owned and used fashion has increased by 45% since November 2019. At the same time, bags, watches and sneakers became the most popular categories. In previous reports, the platform also noted a steady increase in interest in second-hand, or as it is also called “vintage”.
In many ways, the reason for this phenomenon lies in the fact that consumers are becoming more environmentally responsible and are simply tired of the rapid changes in trends, which is typical for the "fast fashion" that has dominated the market in recent years. According to Lyst, the term "slow fashion" is becoming more and more popular in consumer searches. in the last 12 months alone, it has been searched over 90 million times.
At the same time, consumers are beginning to pay more and more attention to environmental issues. Instead of supporting the production of more and more new products, they are increasingly striving to reduce the waste of used items. Thus, the number of search queries related to sustainability increased by 37% compared to last year. Consumers increasingly prefer products made from recycled and natural materials. Gradually, wearing used clothes is becoming the perfect norm, and this choice is made not only in order to save money.
And against the backdrop of these trends, an opinion has emerged according to which the global coronavirus pandemic can contribute to the growth in the popularity of second-hand stores. The general income of the population has decreased, and the desire to dress well has not gone away. In addition, sometimes you can find a lot of interesting things on the shelves with vintage. And with a high degree of probability, many of them will be unique. This will be especially true for regions where the number of fashion stores is traditionally small. And against the backdrop of a general decline, they may become even less.
So it is highly likely that in the near future we will see an explosive growth of interest in vintage clothing. As well as the emergence of second-hand stores of new formats - in addition to ordinary retail outlets, in which everything is simply piled up, stores will begin to open en masse using the latest approaches, such as selling through Instagram.
