Cheap chic: Teens embrace secondhand shopping

Price could be a motivating factor for teens to shop at thrift stores. Photo: AFP Relaxnews

In recent months, environmentally conscious and politically committed members of Gen-Z, who are quite happy with the principle of secondhand, having been buying and selling more and more used goods in the US.

The global market for secondhand items could well enjoy explosive growth in view of its popularity with this highly influential age group, which contributes an annual US$830 billion to retail sales in the US.

Although they are keen to support the preservation of the environment on social networks, are teenagers really ready to demonstrate their commitment to the cause when acting as consumers?

The question is not an easy one, giving the difficulty of analysing such a complex generation, as Eric Briones, co-founder of the Paris School of Luxury and the author of the book "Le choc Z" pointed out in March.

Now a new Piper Sandler study of 7,000 Americans with an average age of 16.1 years has revealed that buying secondhand is becoming "second nature" for Gen-Z teens.

Among the those questioned by the Spring 21 survey, no less than 47% had already bought and 55% had already sold secondhand goods. Not surprisingly then, the survey also notes that teenagers conduct 8% of their purchasing on the secondhand market.

Another important development is the growing popularity of thrift stores and secondhand outlets, which were placed 10th in the ranking of preferred brands and retailers for this generation, as opposed 23rd in a previous iteration of the study last year.