Fast Fashion? Zara to Bring Pre-Owned Clothing Service to US

Fast-fashion brand Zara is bringing its secondhand clothing marketplace to the U.S.

Zara Pre-Owned, which lets customers sell, donate or repair secondhand clothing, is set to launch in the U.S. by the end of October, parent company Inditex announced in its half-year earnings report Wednesday (Sept. 11).

The company first introduced its Pre-Owned business last year, part of a wave of other retailers providing similar services amid pressures to improve their sustainability practices.

Consumers continue to be enticed by secondhand clothing offerings, especially younger ones, research by PYMNTS Intelligence has shown.

That research found that among consumers who bought second-hand products last year, 52% of millennials have upped their resale shopping. This was the only generation in which most secondhand shoppers were purchasing more pre-owned items year over year.

“Millennials often face financial challenges, including student loan debt, high living costs and the impact of economic recessions,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this year.

Secondhand shopping gives these consumers a cost-effective way to purchase goods, making it a practical choice for many millennials with tight budgets. These consumers have also seen the rise and proliferation of online marketplaces like eBay, Poshmark, ThredUp and Facebook Marketplace, that report continued. Of these sites, eBay in particular has seen the impact of deal-chasing behavior from consumers.

“Our model is working because we have global demand,” eBay CEO Jamie Iannone said in discussing the online marketplace company’s first-quarter 2024 earnings results. “We’ve really focused on non-new in-season over the last couple of years, and we can provide value in a marketplace like this.”

Also Wednesday, Zara reiterated its plans to bring live shopping broadcast to the U.S., with plans to do the same in other major markets, including the U.K., Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Canada and Germany, the report said.

The company first announced the plan to launch live shopping — already popular in China — in the U.S. in June, as it looks for new ways to drive new customers shoppers as sales cool following a post-pandemic boom.

A report by Reuters at the time cited information from retail analytics company EDITED showing that five-hour live shopping broadcasts in China, held each week by Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister site, have helped boost Zara’s sales since they premiered in November.

“We want to take this to the Western countries, where livestream is not as popular … but we think why not — from an entertainment perspective this is like an evolution,” said a Zara spokesperson for the project.