Resale Trend Expands Into Kids’ Apparel

The secondhand trend has hit just about every sector of the retail market, from high fashion to sneakers to handbags and everything in between.

This week, childrenswear subscription service Dopple became the latest entry into the growing sector, which is expected to experience a boon as people suddenly find themselves paying more for gas and food than ever before, with thredUP projecting resale will reach $77 billion by 2025.

That projection says half of mothers with young children plan to spend more on secondhand clothing in the next five years than they have in the past.

Dopple on Wednesday (April 6) partnered with resale-as-a-service platform Treet, a move that company officials say is a natural extension for the brand that caters to customers who continue to outgrow their products, some more quickly than others.

“Kids wear out clothes, so there’s just not as many cycles you can get,” CEO and Co-founder Chao Wang told Retail Brew for its report Thursday (April 7). “So that’s why renting is not great for kids. You’re not going to get as many turns as you would out of a … gown or something.”

The new service, dubbed ReDopple, allows customers (most likely parents or other adults in the lives of the children who will wear the clothes) to purchase secondhand goods from Dopple’s more than 380 brands — including Bonpoint and Rylee + Cru. Sellers can get 80% of the sale value in cash or 100% in credit to use at Dopple as part of the new initiative.

“We noticed there were all these Facebook buy, sell, trade, groups, and they’re mostly moms buying, selling, and trading these specific brands that we carry,” said Wang in the report. “So we’re like, ‘Okay, there’s definitely an appetite for like slow fashion that has resale value.’”

Related: The Frugal 5: Top Retail Categories That Will Benefit From Belt-Tightening

Last month, PYMNTS included the secondhand retail market as one of five areas that will benefit most from increased inflation and consumers tightening up their spending in 2022.

“Not only are the apparel resellers already in business and established, but the likes of thredUP, Poshmark, The RealReal and others already have legions of loyalists who love to save money but still get ‘new’ clothes,” our report noted.

“They could also benefit from the fact that more consumers will likely look for innovative ways to raise cash, making fundraising concepts like ‘closet cleanouts’ all the more appealing,” our report says.