The luxury second-hand market is expected to rise 12 percent by 2021 compared with the overall luxury market at 3 percent according to a recent study from the fashion search engine Tagwalk and the contemporary antique retailer Byronesque. And looking forward, the secondary sector will expand by 61% to a size of $50 billion by 2024.
This estimate follows closely the retro denim industry’s conquest over the last few years as sustainability takes the lead. Last year, Tommy Hilfiger joined forces with antique retailer Procell in selling retro archive pieces. Earlier this year, Levi’s and Guess revealed their own deal for antique resale. Resale progress suggests a strong future for the category, even through pandemic periods.
Consumers aren’t searching for conventional retro denim according to Byronesque. They are explicitly looking for innovative pieces, including an iconic slashed denim outfit by Vivienne Westwood from the 1991 S/S shows, a bum-baring look by Alexander McQueen from F/W 2000, an exaggerated jean by Margiela from F/W 2000 and a splash-splitting jean by Helmut Lang, from S/S 1998.s
