Goodwill Hunting #04: from clothing donations to resale arbitrage
curated pre-loved fashion finds from across the web
Welcome to Goodwill Hunting!
Goodwill Hunting curates pre-loved fashion finds from across the web.
Over a decade ago, I stopped buying new clothes. My “a ha” moment was when I faced the irony of my both/and: both purchasing fast fashion and interning in college at leading NGOs advocating for anti-human trafficking programs and policies around the world. I sold or donated the 100s of items I’d accumulated from Forever21, H&M, and other fast fashion brands, and vowed to not buy anything new unless it met certain conditions.
More than 10 years later, I still haven’t purchased any new clothing—only secondhand, vintage, thrifted, swapped, upcycled, self-sewn, or certified sustainably/ethically made fashion. Over half of that has been from thrift stores.
You may be surprised to learn that only 1/3 of the clothing donated to thrift stores is sold. Overall, the Business of Fashion 2021 Future of Fashion Resale Report estimates that only 5-7% of clothing each year is resold on online secondary fashion markets. Where is the rest going then?
Most donated clothing is exported to developing markets in Africa and Southeast Asia. Resellers in these local markets then hunt through 200-pound bales of clothing to sort the garbage (mostly fast fashion) from the gems (actually re-sellable fashion).
In Ghana, the secondhand market Kantamanto processes 100M items every 4-5 months—the same amount that thredUP (valued at $1.3B) reported processing in their first 10 years. In other words, Kantamanto has processed 26x as much clothing in the past decade than the largest online thrift and consignment store in the US has. Let’s compare side-by-side.
Kantamanto Market (Ghana)
740,000+ per day
300 million items per year
3 billion items over 10 years
thredUP (US)
40,000+ per day
14.6 million per year
100 million over 10 years
That’s a massive amount of secondhand clothing. Ezra Marcus of The New York Times recently investigated the complex, convoluted web for exported clothing in Malaysia. He wanted to understand why so many resellers on Grailed, a resale marketplace for men's designer fashion, were shipping from Malaysia. Based on this investigation, here’s a sample journey of a cool band t-shirt found on Grailed:
(1) Cotton from Tajikistan → (2) Manufactured in Bangladesh → (3) Sold in NYC → (4) Donated to local thrift store → (5) Sorted into bales in Houston → (6) Exported to Malaysia → (7) Sorted by locals → (8) Resold & shipped from Malaysia → (9) Delivered to San Francisco. 9 steps for 1 t-shirt.
Where do we go from here? In the US, thredUP estimates that 80% of consumers (266M Americans!) will refresh their closets after the pandemic. In the UK, 1 in 3 Gen Z-ers already use Depop. According to Bain x Depop research, 90% of Gen Z secondhand shoppers say they’ve made changes to be more sustainable in their daily lives.
Younger generations are leading the shift to fewer, better things—starting with secondhand items like those curated below.
♻️ 3 products
1980s Red Leather-like Dress, size M from Etsy ($48). Perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Vintage Chanel CC stud earrings from Lysis Paris, a new vintage online boutique ($280). Use code
WELCOME10to get 10% off your first order.Vivienne Westwood heart crossbody bag from Grailed ($560).
📕 3 reads
How Malaysia Got in on the Secondhand Clothing Boom (The New York Times). Thorough investigation on why so many resellers on sites like Grailed, Etsy, and eBay are from Malaysia.
Meet Sourcewhere, a premier sourcing platform for your luxury needs (Hypebae). Sourcewhere is a fashion sourcing app that offers shoppers to request luxury fashion products and be connected with sellers who can find what they’re looking for. Erica Wright, the founder and CEO of Sourcewhere belives that “a ‘less is more’ approach is essential to a more sustainable industry.”
Gen Z’s ambition? Create a new fashion system (Vogue Business). Gen Z-ers are emerging from lockdown as business owners and bosses, intent on maintaining their values of authenticity, community, and sustainability while building their brands.
✨ 3 jobs
Archive — VP of Partnerships. Archive is a white label resale-as-a-service startup that recently raised $8M to expand branded resale. This role would lead partnerships with the “100 fashion brands looking to work with Archive.”
FINDS — Head of Product. FINDS is a video-first fashion marketplace app for Gen Z. As product lead, you’ll help people to buy, sell, and explore unique items through interactive live content.
Lizee — Head of Marketing. Dreamed of being a fractional CMO for mission-driven startups? Lizee is looking for a freelance marketing leader to accelerate the adoption of circular business models (rental & resale).
Feedback welcome!
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Disclaimer: My posts are my own and do not reflect the opinions of my current, past, or future employers. Goodwill Hunting is not affiliated with Goodwill Industries or the film Good Will Hunting.