US used clothing market to reach 70 billion dollars by 2027

The United States second-hand apparel market is expected to hit $70 billion by 2027 almost nine times faster than the regular clothing sector according to the latest figures from US-based reselling giant ThredUp.

Its study estimates that the global second-hand clothing market will reach 0 billion by 2027.

The study also reveals that the global used apparel market in 2024 would be 10 percent of the total global apparel trade. The trend is sharper in the United States where 75 percent of the consumers have bought used clothing or have shown interest to do so.

Sensing the shift in consumer trends Megapaca, Central America’s largest importer and retailer of used clothing is to expand into the US from its traditional Central American base with the launch of a new reselling website in the US. This way it will be effectively selling used clothing back to its source.



Megapaca operates an import and sorting operation in Guatemala and then resells the sorted items through its 123 stores across its domestic market as well as Honduras, El Salvador, and southern Mexico, as well as online.

The company imported 45 million pounds of used clothing, and shoes last year and sold them after sorting them.



The latest figures from ThredUp also show that online resale is the fastest-growing sector of the US secondhand market and is expected to reach $38 billion by 2027, growing twice as fast as secondhand overall.

The trend according to the 2023 Resale Report, is led by the ‘Gen Z’ demographic with 58 percent who bought secondhand apparel in the last 12 months making at least one purchase online.