Jacklyn Wells, a 19-year-old Depop seller posted a TikTok in late January showing off “the most insane thrift haul.” The TikTok quickly went negative, really negative with more than 5.9M views inciting a moral reaction that thrifting should be philanthropic not for profit. Jacklyn was called "greedy, lazy, and parasitic." I will spare you from the most aggressive comments but the controversy created quite a bit of debate on the ethics of resale.

Sophie Benson’s article appearing this week in British Vogue, Should You Buy From A Thrift Store If You Can Afford Not To? provided a thoughtful assessment of the debate. The majority of thrift stores operated by non for profits are job creation programs and these programs expand with more demand. As Benson rightly points out, “reselling requires hours of work including sourcing, prepping, cleaning, mending, styling, photographing and posting, and any markup must reflect and compensate for that labor.”

As Benson points out, we aren’t talking about stockpiling baby formula or toilet paper for that matter. The fashion industry produces 150 billion garments EVERY year for 8 billion people on the planet. Thrift stores are inundated with donations, turning away a majority of clothing items as they aren’t able to sell thru them. There is no shortage of clothing. The more we thrift the more items we keep in use and this undoubtedly displaces some purchases of new items.

We have massive problems in society where many can’t afford clothing and this should create outrage, and ideally support programs designed around providing clothing such as Dress for Success or Soles4Souls. But those willing to invest in the risk, work, and curation of maximizing value for clothing should be celebrated not shamed.

Glossy asked this week, Can The RealReal’s aggressive cost-cutting help it reach profitability? My favorite part of the article was the sharp question, “So how did a company that helped usher in the massive and still growing fashion resale boom end up in this predicament?” There are only a handful of successful stand-alone retailers emerged over the past 20 years and there couldn’t be a more difficult time to break out than during a global pandemic followed by a dramatic shift in the cost of capital. It’s unclear if The RealReal will reach a point of profitable growth or will eventually be a part of a larger more established luxury retailer. However, resale is here to stay and clearly creating opportunities for brands and resale platform providers who support their resale efforts.

Hanna Anderson launched their peer-to-peer resale platform Hanna-Me-Downs, powered by Archive. The storefront is prominently displayed on the main menu navigation of the mainline site and allows sellers to list items for other customers to shop. According to the company the site launched with 1,500 items with prices averaging $18-$24. This is a seemingly great fit for resale and the peer-to-peer model given the price point. I expect over time branded storefronts such as Hanna-Me-Downs will grow consumer awareness and expectations of resale.

The So What

1. Keeping items in use longer is essential for a more sustainable future, and those who invest their time to buy and resell clothing are doing us all a service
2. Brands should choose the right resale model for their business and Hanna Anderson’s peer-to-peer model will work well at the lower Kids' brand price point