As the winter chill sets in, many people are turning to indoor activities to stay warm and keep their spirits up. One of the most fun ways to spend a wintery afternoon with friends is digging through thrift shops.
Thrifting has surged in popularity in recent years, for an array of reasons: it’s good for the environment, it allows people to find unique clothing, and can often be less expensive than buying new clothing.
The global market for secondhand clothing is expected to reach $351 billion by 2027, according to a 2023 report from the online thrift store thredUp (TDUP). The secondhand apparel market is also expected to increase at three times the rate of the overall global clothing market. In the United States, resale clothing sales increased at five times the rate of the broader retail market in 2022.
Eighty-eight percent of Americans said that saving money was a major factor in their decision to thrift shop, while 41% said they were looking to find unique clothing, and 34% said they were doing it for the thrill in a recent survey conducted by the website CouponFollow. Additionally, 85% of Americans said they believed that thrifting was better for the environment than buying new clothing.
“While value continues to be a key driver that motivates consumers to think secondhand first, global climate issues have increased awareness of resale’s potential to reduce fashion’s impact on the environment,” thredUP CEO James Reinhart said in the 2023 report.
“We are still in the earliest days of inventing how resale can reduce the ongoing production excess in the apparel industry, and I don’t see a world where we’re going back to the way it used to be.”
A recent analysis from CouponFollow ranked the best and worst cities in the US for thrift shopping. The analysis pulled data from Yelp reviews and survey responses to determine where buyers were most likely to find variety, affordability, and quality at used clothing stores. The analysis also looked at the number of flea markets, vintage stores, and thrift shops in each city.
Continue reading to learn which American cities are the best for thrifting.
