ThredUp’s 2025 Holiday Report shows consumers are dedicating nearly 40 percent of their budgets to secondhand gifts — a record shift toward circular shopping.
ThredUp’s 2025 Holiday Report signals a measurable shift in how Americans spend during the most commercial season of the year. The resale platform found that consumers plan to devote nearly 40 percent of their holiday budgets to secondhand gifts — an increase from the 30 percent typically spent on resale items throughout the year. Conducted by GlobalData, the study surveyed two thousand U.S. shoppers and points to a holiday economy increasingly driven by circular consumption.
“While the macroeconomic picture remains unclear, consumers aren’t stopping their holiday traditions — they’re just getting more strategic on how they participate. They’re seeking the most value, and that path is increasingly through resale,” James Reinhart, CEO and cofounder of ThredUp, said in a statement. “This holiday season proves consumers are incredibly financially savvy. Close to half of all shoppers are turning old items into cash they can use for holiday gifts. This circular strategy is becoming a major part of how they fund their holiday spending.”
Secondhand gifts find their footing
The findings suggest a broader normalization of resale in mainstream retail behavior. Sixty-six percent of respondents say they’re open to giving secondhand gifts, rising to 80 percent among Millennials. More than half of all shoppers cite value as their top priority, but uniqueness also plays a role — 56 percent are drawn to items that feel more personal than mass-produced.
“Secondhand gifting isn’t just about saving money; it’s emotional,” said Kristen Brophy, Senior Vice President of Marketing at ThredUp. “It allows you to find something truly unique or nostalgic that carries a story, which often means more to someone than a brand-new item.”
The same report found that 47 percent of shoppers plan to sell unused goods — clothing, electronics, luxury items — to offset the cost of new purchases. Millennials lead that movement at 70 percent, followed by Gen Z at 57 percent. The top resale categories this holiday season include accessories at 40 percent, women’s apparel at 36 percent, and vintage pieces at 31 percent, suggesting nostalgia now ranks as highly as novelty.
Last year, the U.S. secondhand apparel market expanded by 14 percent, outpacing the overall apparel sector nearly fivefold. Online resale alone grew 23 percent year-over-year, and GlobalData projects it will nearly double again within five years. Globally, resale reached $204.7 billion in 2024 — a 17.6 percent increase from the year before — while traditional retail sales in apparel remained nearly flat.
Luxury resale has followed suit. The RealReal reported a 13 percent rise in customers purchasing items priced between $1,000 and $3,000 in 2024, an indication that high-spending consumers increasingly view pre-owned luxury as an investment category. Vestiaire Collective’s growth mirrors that trajectory, supported by its four core pillars — curation, trust, community, and sustainability — and bolstered by high-visibility awareness campaigns across Europe and the United States.
The resale boom has also drawn regulatory attention. This week, the European Union fined Gucci, Chloé, and Loewe a combined €157 million for restricting authorized retailers’ ability to set resale prices — underscoring how central recommerce has become to fashion’s competitive landscape. The case highlighted the tension between legacy control and the openness required for a circular economy to thrive.
Circular fashion in practice
While consumers are redefining value through behavior, designers and policymakers are working to translate that mindset into long-term systems change. At the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Fashion and Lifestyle Network convened a discussion at the SDG Media Zone featuring designer Mara Hoffman and Samina Virk, Chief Marketing Officer and U.S. CEO of Vestiaire Collective. Moderated by The Business of Fashion, the conversation focused on how resale, responsible design, and circular innovation can steer the global industry away from overproduction and toward regeneration.
“Let us show that fashion and lifestyle stakeholders are ready to lead by example, to collaborate, and to design a future that protects people, planet, and the generations to come,” said Kerry Bannigan, co-founder of the United Nations Fashion and Lifestyle Network and president of the board of the PVBLIC Foundation.
Hoffman described sustainability as both a creative and emotional discipline, one that calls for integrity as much as innovation. “We are up against a system that is not designed to help us win,” she said. “Yet the ache and discomfort around this can be transformed into a catalyst for change. When it was uncomfortable, we looked for shifts and for solutions.”
Virk reinforced that perspective through data and imagery. “We brought to life visually what it would look like if the 92 million tons of fashion waste that end up in landfills were piled in front of the Eiffel Tower, in Times Square, or at Buckingham Palace to show the true scale of the problem,” she explained.
The event underscored what ThredUp’s findings quantify: the growing cultural value of durability. Longevity, repair, and resale are overlapping forces that collectively extend the lifespan of garments, preserve craftsmanship, and minimize waste.
Consumers are learning to view wardrobes as assets with ongoing value rather than disposable goods. Designers are building with that future in mind, brands are integrating authenticated resale platforms into their e-commerce ecosystems, and policymakers are aligning sustainability targets with extended product lifecycles.
The convergence between platforms like ThredUp and the ideals voiced at UNGA 80 reflects a broader recalibration of what fashion can represent when profit and responsibility intersect. As Hoffman framed it, sustainability is not a style but a practice — a continuous process of repair, revaluation, and respect. “Let us show that fashion and lifestyle stakeholders are ready to lead by example, to collaborate, and to design a future that protects people, planet, and the generations to come.”
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