No.3584
08/19/2024

Secondhand Fashion/Apparel Market in Japan: Key Research Findings 2024

Domestic Secondhand Apparel Market Size Grew to 113.9% of Preceding Year to 1,150 Billion Yen

Yano Research Institute (the President, Takashi Mizukoshi) has surveyed the domestic secondhand fashion or apparel market and has found out the trend of business forms, trend by item, and future perspectives. Here highlights the domestic secondhand fashion market size transition and forecast.


Secondhand Apparel Market Size Transition and Forecast
Secondhand Apparel Market Size Transition and Forecast

Market Overview

The domestic secondhand fashion/apparel market size by retail value for 2023 is estimated at 1,150,000 million yen, 113.9% of the preceding year.
Despite having ended up with a slight increase in 2020 due to behavioral restrictions amid the pandemic, the market has expanded with double digit growth since 2021, because of normalized economic activities after the lift of behavioral restrictions, increased numbers of secondhand fashion item users on account of widespread flea market apps, and the thrifted clothing boom.

Noteworthy Topics

Efforts by Apparel Stores to Collect Unnecessary Clothes

In recent years, social interest in the SDGs and sustainability has been growing, and apparel companies and consumers in general have become increasingly conscious of environmental conservation.
In this trend, many apparel companies in the primary distribution market are voluntarily collecting unwanted clothing and reusing them as resources, aiming to realize circular economy and recycling fashion. Unnecessary clothing is often collected at their own stores, but many apparel companies are starting to collect garments not limited to their own brands.

Future Outlook

With growth expected to continue, the secondhand fashion market for 2024 is forecasted at 1,280,000 million yen, 111.3% of the previous year.
The fashion industry has been internationally pointed out at its heavy impacts on environment. This has led apparel companies to reduce waste by circulating the clothes and materials in the secondhand market without wasting dead stock or retained stock, in addition to their efforts to collect unwanted clothes, thereby to press ahead with alleviating environmental burdens and shifting to circular fashion. The trends leave the promotion of apparel recycling to be indispensable, making the secondhand fashion market promising for further expansion.   

Research Outline

1.Research Period: April to June 2024
2.Research Object: Companies dealing in fashion items and/or secondhand apparel products
3.Research Methogology: Face-to-face interviews (including online) by expert researchers, and literature research

The Secondhand Fashion/Apparel Market

The secondhand fashion/apparel market in this research targets secondhand fashion items, such as clothes (men’s, women’s, baby & children’s), fashion accessories (bags, small leather goods, shoes, ties, etc.,) jewelry, watches, kimono, and others (outdoor items, import brands, etc.)
General household appliances, smartphones, old coins, music instruments, etc. are not included.
The market size has been calculated based on the retail values, and no sales commissions to intermediary service vendors that provide C2C trading platforms on the internet or via apps are included.

<Products and Services in the Market>

Clothes (men’s, women’s, baby & children’s), fashion accessories (bags, small leather goods, shoes, ties, etc.,) jewelry, watches, kimono, and others (outdoor items, import brands, etc.)

Published Report

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