Make a Small Fortune Selling Old Clothes From These 10 Brands

Looking for a way to generate extra cash? Consider selling some of your old clothes.

More than half of consumers — 52% — shopped for secondhand apparel last year, according to the 2023 Resale Report from ThredUp, an online secondhand clothing store.

Of all apparel sold in the past 12 months, one in three items were secondhand, ThredUP says. For members of Generation Z, secondhand clothes make up two out of every five items they own.

This trend toward secondhand clothing means that, globally, the secondhand apparel market could nearly double by 2027 and grow to $350 billion, according to the ThredUp report.

That growth could be a golden opportunity for anyone looking for a way to make a few extra bucks.

Selling some of your old clothes may help you rake in a small fortune. Certain clothes brands are especially likely to fetch higher prices, ThredUp says. The 10 most sought-after brands are:

1. Torrid
2. Lululemon Athletica
3. Madewell
4. Zara
5. Free People
6. Patagonia
7. Reformation
8. Urban Outfitters
9. Everlane
10. Vuori

In compiling its rankings, ThredUp had retail analytics firm Global Data survey more than 3,000 U.S. adults and the top 50 U.S. fashion retailers to ask about preferences in the secondhand market. Global Data also assessed the secondhand market according to “consumer surveys, retailer tracking, official public data, data sharing, store observation, and secondary sources.”

In the report, James Reinhart, co-founder and CEO of ThredUp, says better pricing is the top reason why people look to secondhand clothes. But it isn’t the only factor:

“While value continues to be a key driver that motivates consumers to think secondhand first, global climate issues have increased awareness of resale’s potential to reduce fashion’s impact on the environment. We are still in the earliest days of inventing how resale can reduce the ongoing production excess in the apparel industry, and I don’t see a world where we’re going back to the way it used to be.”

Selling old clothes is just one way to make a few extra bucks. For more, check out “35 Clever Ways to Make Extra Money.”