Resale boom draws 'tariff-ied' shoppers—online and in stores
As U.S. trade policies drive up apparel prices, secondhand shopping is thriving online and off—offering lessons for local ukay-ukay culture in the Philippines.
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Daily TribuneAs U.S. trade policies drive up apparel prices, secondhand shopping is thriving online and off—offering lessons for local ukay-ukay culture in the Philippines.
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A worker sorts incoming clothing items at Artikel2’s sorting center in Stockholm on 10 April 2025. Sweden's recycling centres are overflowing with clothes after an EU-wide ban this year on throwing away textiles, leaving overwhelmed municipalities eager to have fast fashion giants take responsibility.
Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP
Clothes are being produced and discarded at a staggering rate.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ARAM LASCANO FOR THE DAILY TRIBUNE
As tariffs shake up the fashion industry, secondhand clothing is having a major moment. According to The Business of Fashion’s Lei Takanashi, resale platforms in the U.S. are seeing an unprecedented influx of new shoppers—many of them spooked by rising prices on imported fast fashion from platforms like Shein and Temu.
ThredUp, a major resale marketplace, reported a 95 percent year-on-year jump in new buyers in the first quarter of 2025—the biggest surge in the company’s history. The luxury resale site TheRealReal also posted an 11 percent revenue increase, signaling that both ends of the secondhand market are thriving.
Takanashi notes that this growth comes in the wake of the U.S. closing the de minimis loophole, which had previously allowed fast fashion giants to ship cheap products duty-free. With that perk gone and prices going up, shoppers are turning to secondhand platforms for better value.
Resale apps such as Depop, Poshmark, and eBay have seen downloads rise, and shoppers are increasingly using AI tools to find what they want faster. ThredUp, for instance, now offers AI-powered shopping tools that have boosted conversion rates by 64 percent.
But with this explosive growth comes a new set of challenges: overcrowded listings, user experience issues, and increased competition for sellers. As platforms scale, it becomes harder to maintain the curated feel that early users valued. Some, like Poshmark, have had to crack down on sellers gaming the system to stay visible—creating friction in the community.
Meanwhile, brick-and-mortar resale stores are quietly thriving. In a follow-up report, also by Takanashi, The Business of Fashion highlights that the number of U.S. shops dealing in secondhand fashion has grown 7 percent over the past two years. These physical stores offer convenience, curation, and customer service that many shoppers still value—especially younger Gen Z consumers who increasingly see secondhand as stylish and ethical.
That dual-track growth—online and offline—may sound familiar to Filipinos. While glossy shops in malls like Glorietta and Greenbelt flourish among trend-savvy buyers, the humble ukay-ukay remains a staple in provinces and inner cities. Just like in the U.S., shoppers here are increasingly balancing digital finds with the thrill of in-person treasure hunting.
Whether it’s a carefully tagged piece on Carousell or a ₱50 gem dug out from a street-side rack, the secondhand market in the Philippines reflects the same forces reshaping resale abroad: economic pressure, changing values, and a desire to shop smarter. And like their U.S. counterparts, Filipino consumers are showing there’s more than one way to give clothes a second life.
