Goodwill Hunting #15: would you buy secondhand gifts?

weekly roundup of must-reads in fashion, tech, & resale

Nov 11, 2022

Welcome to Goodwill Hunting, a newsletter curated by Danielle L. Vermeer, a tech product manager and avid thrifter obsessed with making fashion more social, circular, and fun. This weekly edition includes thrift finds to shop, consumer insights & industry news to read, and a dose of nostalgia as we head into the weekend.

♻️ Thrift Finds <$200

Thrift finds <$200 from GoodwillFinds & ShopGoodwill: Vintage wool & fur cape ($181) | Vintage Coach bag ($16) | Black over-the-knee boots, size 9 ($10) | Vintage 14K gold hoop earrings ($75) | Kendra Scott bangles ($42)

💡 Consumer Insights

Poshmark released their 2022 Trend Report: Holiday Edition. The peer-to-peer resale marketplace, which was recently acquired by Naver Group for $1.2B, analyzed data from their 80M registered users (30M+ actives), consumer surveys, and industry reports.

92% of U.S. consumers are open to receiving secondhand gifts
56% is likely to buy secondhand gifts for themselves
55% of Gen Z shoppers plan to buy secondhand gifts for family & friends
40% is concerned about inflating making holiday shopping more expensive

But there’s a gap between what consumers—especially Gen Z & Millennials—say vs. what they’ll actually pay for in sustainable fashion. Will the economic climate be the push that consumers need to make secondhand shopping their first choice?

Side bar: I’ve been a Poshmark “top seller” for 10 years. Take a peek into my closet here! 👀

📕 Weekend Reading

Fran Drescher Campaigns for Zero Waste Fashion with thredUP (Vogue)

Fran Drescher of “The Nanny” fame is a self-described environmentalist who partnered with thredUP and sustainable fashion designer Zero Waste Daniel on a 100% upcycled collection. Each piece—bags, bucket hats, coats & more—are made from 2000 pounds of textiles that could not be resold by thredUP. The “Full Circle” collection launches on November 15.

Is SHEIN the future of fashion? (LinkedIn)

Timothy Armoo predicts that algorithmic-driven discovery and product development are the future, using SHEIN as the best-in-class example. I disagree and believe that the future of (re)commerce is curated.

It’s no surprise why Shein has been called The TikTok of commerce. Commerce is moving from a human-designed POV and moving to what the machines tell us….When there is so much choice, let the algorithms decide. There will be no need for human curation.

Bring back forums (Dirt)

Dirt writer Gaby Del Valle shares pines for a return to niche online forums. See a previous Goodwill Hunting on nicheification and thrifting.

The beautiful thing about the internet, at least in theory, is its ability to connect people across time and space and cultures….The subcultures aren’t the problem; the fact that I know about them is. It wasn’t always this way. You used to have to seek out a scene, even online. Now everything is offered up for your consumption whether you want it or not.

Roblox x Parsons School of Fashion’s Metaverse Report

I believe that digital fashion will replace some fast fashion consumption in the next 5-10 years. If a garment is worn only once for Insta pics and AR fashion improves 10x, then does it need to be a physical garment? Learn more about digital fashion here.

70% of Gen Z say their avatars dress at least somewhat like their IRL style. Half of Gen Z respondents say they change their avatar’s clothing at least every week. 2 out of 5 say self-expression (via clothing and accessories) in the digital world is already more important than expressing themselves in the physical world.

Ebay announced a new Black Friday strategy (BBC)

Ebay is going back to its roots this month with a decision to promote only secondhand or refurbished deals for Black Friday. The marketplace says it wants to offer a different approach the pre-Christmas shopping event. It was time to move away from the “buying for buying's sake mentality” said Ebay's UK boss, Murray Lambell.

💿 Dose of Nostalgia

Looking back, this 1996 episode of The Simpsons when Marge transforms a Chanel suit into new outfits is what sparked my interest in learning how to sew.