Online platform About You is experimenting with the sale of second-hand clothing: the Zalando competitor offers around 30,000 second-hand items in its German web shop.
Luxury brands in particular
About You has quietly started selling second-hand, following its rival Zalando and even fast-fashion players such as H&M Group. On the German website from now on, somewhat hidden between the other clothing categories, the section ‘Second Love’ can be found.
Initially, the site contains some thirty thousand articles, mainly from luxury brands such as Valentino, Balenciaga and Prada. The fashion platform is said to have entered into cooperation with the specialised German player Vite EnVogue, according to TextilWirtschaft. For the time being, therefore, the items are not yet for sale outside the German home market.
Second-hand is a real trend in the fashion landscape: by 2025, the market for ‘pre-loved’ clothing is expected to overtake that for fast-fashion. In Europe, e-commerce trade association CBCommerce estimates that second-hand will even become one and a half times as big, while US market leader The RealReal expects growth of up to 64 billion dollar worldwide. More and more brands and retailers are also joining the story to reduce their carbon footprint – a promise many companies have already made.
