As I finish this week’s newsletter, I’m writing from the lobby of the citizenM in Miami. Fun fact: at citizenM Glasgow, the hotel teamed up with the Glasgow School of Art to upcycle its own furniture, inviting students to reimagine classic Vitra pieces (think Eames lounge chairs and Bouroullec sofas) into one-of-a-kind art objects instead of buying new.
🍫 News Bites
Watch marketplace The 1916 Company is entering the handbag resale game by acquiring Maryland-based Luxury in Reach, bringing its founder in-house to lead a new pre-owned designer handbag vertical that plugs live shopping, authenticated bags, and $ 15 M in new revenue into 1916’s $600M watch and jewelry platform.
Bloomberg reports that TikTok Shop is muscling into luxury resale, selling pre-owned Hermès and Chanel bags for up to $11,000 plus Rolex and Cartier watches, with AI-based authenticators boosting trust as Gen Z turns the “dollar store” app into a high-end live shopping channel (Read More).
OfferUp’s 2025 Recommerce Report finds that 81% of Americans plan to buy at least some secondhand gifts this holiday, with vintage and collectibles leading the pack as shoppers chase lower prices, unique local finds, and a way to fund gifting by selling their own items too (Read More).
Ethos reports that Vestiaire Collective has launched a first-of-its-kind carbon credits program that turns “avoided emissions” from secondhand purchases into certified credits, aiming to prove that circular fashion can both cut carbon and generate new revenue, even as critics question whether it blurs the line between real decarbonization and greenwashing (Read More).
👁🗨️ Eyes on Opportunity
Depop’s new report argues that American closets are basically mini balance sheets: people are sitting on billions of dollars in “hidden” resale value in clothes they no longer wear, and younger shoppers in particular are treating resale apps as a way to make extra income, clean out their wardrobes, and cut back on waste by keeping fashion in circulation instead of in landfills.
Signal: Big resale platforms are now telling consumers that their closets are basically mini ATMs. Depop and ThredUp both peg the average closet at around $400 in resellable value, and resale itself has moved from “thrifter niche” to mainstream behavior—people increasingly accept secondhand as normal, but still do not want to do the work of photographing, listing, and shipping.
Numbers: At roughly $17 per item and $400 per closet, you get tens of billions of dollars in idle value sitting in wardrobes.
Opportunity: Building systems and services that convert other people’s closet value into cash, at scale.
Idea 1 – Closet Cash-Out Concierge
Offer a simple “Closet Cash-Out Concierge” service where you help busy people turn their unused clothes into cash without lifting a finger. You handle a quick audit (in person or on video), pull items with resale value, list them on Depop or other platforms, and split the earnings. This model rides a clear tailwind: the global secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $367B by 2029, growing much faster than traditional retail, which means demand for pre-owned clothing is only going up.
Idea 2 – Niche Depop Style Shop
Instead of trying to sell everything, build a focused Depop shop around one niche your target buyers already love, for example, plus-size going-out clothes, Y2K denim, or kids’ bundles by size and season. You source inventory directly from people whose closets match that niche, then use sold-listing data to guide what you accept, how you price, and which keywords you use. This lines up with consumer behavior, since 58% of U.S. shoppers bought secondhand apparel in 2024, and Gen Z in particular already has two out of five items in their closets coming from resale, so focused, aesthetic-driven shops have a real edge.
Idea 3 – Local Closet Cash-Out Days
Run recurring “Closet Cash-Out Days” at local coffee shops or community spaces where people bring bags of clothes. You quickly sort what is worth listing, and either pay a small upfront amount or put it on consignment to feed your online resale channels. This taps into a huge supply problem: textile waste has climbed sharply, and resale in the U.S. has grown several hundred percent since 2018, as businesses increasingly “mine America’s closets” for inventory instead of relying only on new production.
🤑 Funding
The holidays can be a slower time for funding; instead, we’re revisiting Vinted’s October valuation pop. The Lithuania-based secondhand fashion marketplace hit a $5.4B valuation after a €340M secondary share sale led by TPG, providing liquidity to employees and early investors rather than new primary capital; the piece frames it as part of a broader wave of European secondary deals and notes Vinted’s strong growth and profitability since its 2021 round.
👀 In Case You Missed It…
Business Insider frames luxury resale as an emerging alt asset class, noting that secondhand watches and handbags sit inside a $360B-by-2030 market where Birkins, Rolexes and other “investment grade” pieces can hold or beat retail prices, but experts stress this should be treated like a high-risk satellite bet around a core portfolio, not a replacement for stocks and bonds (Read More).
If you take anything from this week, let it be this: closets are balance sheets, luxury resale is behaving more like an asset class, and consumers are quietly shifting their holiday spend toward secondhand. The operators who win will be the ones who make it easier for people to tap that hidden value. If you are building in resale or thinking about it, pick one idea from this issue and test it in the next 30 days, then hit reply and tell me what you learned so we can feature more real-world playbooks in future editions.
Until next week,