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With this tie-up, Macy’s is aligning with one of the best growing segments in apparel retail.

Transactions for used apparel rose a whopping 254% over the past two years at B-Stock, a B2B marketplace for returned and excess apparel, according to a report emailed to Retail Dive. Handbags and other bags, denim, footwear, jackets and fine watches were the top five categories in used goods, B-Stock also found.

Consumers are increasingly gravitating to such items. Some 64% of women last year bought second-hand fashion or “are open” to it, up from 45% in 2016, according to ThredUp’s most recent resale report. A quarter of department store shoppers also buy used goods, ThredUp found, while luxury second-hand site The RealReal in its own report on the segment said that 93% of its customers “regularly shop department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s.”

The enthusiasm is found among shoppers of all generations, with 33% of millennials, 31% of baby boomers, 20% of Gen X and 16% of Gen Z buying used fashion, according to ThredUp. That could be in part because consumers view the practice as an exercise in sustainability, according to both reports. Nearly a third of consumers now shop resale rather than fast fashion, according to The RealReal.

“The younger customer views secondhand fashion as a sustainable buy,” Jane Hali, CEO of investment research firm Jane Hali & Associates, told Retail Dive in an email. “Resale is also driven by nostalgic millennials.”

Source: Retail Dive