- About a third of Gen Z choose secondhand to afford higher-end brands, according to a ThredUp report.
- Persistent high inflation and fears of an economic slowdown primarily drive these changing preferences.
A record number of Gen Z is living at home and fueling a luxury boom.
And even increasing economic uncertainty is not deterring their pursuit of the good life — they're just buying secondhand instead.
About 30% of Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — are buying secondhand items to afford higher-end brands, according to an April 5 resale report by ThredUp, an online thrift store and resale platform. ThredUp used data derived from a GlobalData survey of 3,012 American adults in December.
And it's not just Gen Z: Americans bought about 1.4 billion pieces of secondhand apparel last year that they would have ordinarily bought new, marking a 40% increase over 2021, the report says.
The most popular brands in resale include cult athleisure company Lululemon, luxury American fashion house Coach, and fashion brand Kate Spade New York, per the report.
Two in five items in Gen Z's closets were previously owned by someone else, per the report.
Moreover, 64% of the surveyed members of Gen Z look for an item secondhand before buying it new, up four percentage points from 2021, per ThredUp's report.
Persistent high inflation and fears of an economic slowdown are the primary drivers of these changing preferences, the report stated. On March 22, the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for a ninth consecutive time in its continued drive to cool inflation.
But "value is the number 1 driver influencing purchasing decisions," the report said.
While reporting about 20-somethings who live at home and splash out on cars and designer handbags, Insider's Dan Latu and Kelsey Neubauer spoke to Anastasia Ricci, a 25-year-old public-relations associate account executive who lives at home. Ricci said she buys luxury items as she perceives them as investments in her wardrobe and life — these are items she wouldn't have been able to buy if she was spending thousands of dollars on rent each month.
"I'll have it for the rest of my life. I am taking super good care of it and my daughter will have it in the future," she told Insider at the time.
And while Ricci wasn't specifically referencing her habits in relation to buying secondhand items, ThredUp's report states that more than 80% of Gen Z considered the resale value of apparel before making a purchase.