Why online resale sites are my new-year obsession: I recycle my clothes to stay in style
By Jan Tuckwood
I used to own 37 pairs of pricey black pants that I called “my serious businesswoman bottoms”.
Tailored trousers from Banana Republic, wide-leg pants from Anthropologie, sassy straight-legs from Rebecca Taylor — I owned black pants for every “boss-lady” occasion.
I wanted to burn them all when I retired five years ago. Instead, I carried my tower of trousers to Goodwill.
But that was then. Now, I’m hip to online resale sites. Apps like ThredUp, Poshmark, The RealReal and eBay help me move my clothes to new homes — and also allow me to stalk clothes and shoes that I covet but could never afford when they’re new.
It’s a personal mission for me to buy fewer new clothes in 2026. Recycling my stuff is one way to enhance my style without adding to my pile.
Here’s how I would unload 37 pairs of pants today: I’d order a big “Clean Out” bag from ThredUp, put my pants in the bag and ship it back. ThredUp would rifle through the pile, photograph and list the items they think will sell, then ship the items to new homes when they do. If items don’t sell, ThredUp donates them or ships them back to you.
“Black work slacks” is its own category on ThredUp. ThredUp takes a cut, so if my pants sold for $20 each, I’d get $3. Not much…but 37 times 3 is still $111. At Poshmark, an item that sells for under $15 earns you $2.95. If it sells for $15 or more, Poshmark keeps 20 percent of the listing price, and the seller keeps 80 percent.
Each site states its policies on a “how to” page in the app. Many resale apps are ready to declutter your closet, from eBay to Depop (for affordable clothes, like the Shein brand), to Gilt and The Real Real (for designer duds and top accessories like Chanel bags).
Depop, a division of Etsy, has a motto I share: “Keep fashion circular.” If you don’t want it anymore, give someone else a shot.
My daughter, Kate, 38, is an executive in the entertainment industry. She gets inspiration from retailers and influencers each season, decides what outfits she needs, then she “moves the same $500” around Poshmark, ThredUp and The RealReal — buying one piece from Poshmark, say, then “RePoshing” it the next year, or selling something from her closet on ThredUp to earn cash or credits to buy something else. She also rents clothes from Rent the Runway and Nuuly.
This keeps fashion circular — and customers like Kate are fueling a boom in online resale. ThredUp’s 2025 resale report states America’s secondhand apparel market is growing 9 percent a year on average, four times faster than the overall retail clothing sector. In 2024, online resale accounted for 88 percent of resale spending.
Millennials like Kate (born from 1981 to 1996) and Gen Z shoppers (born between 1997 and 2012) drive the market. They’ve led their mothers to online resale, too. In 2024, 58 percent of consumers shopped secondhand apparel, an all-time high.
Why? The top five reasons, according to the report: “to get better deals, to enjoy the thrill of the hunt, to afford higher-end brands, to ease pressure on the planet, to find one-of-a-kind looks.”
Here’s one tale of resale romance: a few years ago, Kate noticed a guest on the Today show wearing a mustard-colored top and skirt with a metallic sheen. She fell in love with the outfit, looked for it online and discovered it was by Ulla Johnson, an expensive designer brand.
Cost for that outfit when it came out: $1,000. Cost for Kate after three years of resale sleuthing: $146.