OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ThredUp (NASDAQ: TDUP, LTSE: TDUP), one of the largest online resale platforms for apparel, shoes, and accessories, today released its 2026 Holiday Resale Report. The report finds that 55% of Americans would rather receive a one-of-a-kind, vintage or hard-to-find secondhand gift in excellent condition than a brand-new, mass-produced version, and 62% plan to buy secondhand this season.
Beyond gifting, the report examines how Americans manage the demands of a busier holiday season. People expect more than twice as many social occasions this November and December as in a typical two-month period, and 74% made at least one tradeoff last holiday season, most often going without something for themselves (38%) or spending less on a gift than they wanted.
“For years, a secondhand gift was the budget choice. Now it’s the thoughtful one,” said James Reinhart, ThredUp co-founder and CEO. “People want gifts that feel personal and one-of-a-kind, and secondhand is where they’re finding them.”
How secondhand fits into the holidays:
- More than a third of the gift budget goes secondhand: Those planning to buy secondhand expect to put 37% of their holiday gift budget toward secondhand items, on average, rising to 45% among millennials.
- Gifts for more people: 30% expect secondhand to help them buy gifts for more people, up from 23% last year.
- Uniqueness rivals savings: When receiving a secondhand gift, people value uniqueness nearly as much as savings, and millennials rank it first.
- A gift doesn’t have to be new to be loved: 84% would like a gift they already loved the same or more after learning it was secondhand.
- Holiday sales grew faster than the full year: ThredUp’s holiday sales grew faster than its full-year sales over the past two seasons. Holiday items sold rose 37% from 2023 to 2025, compared with 22% for the full year.
Closets can become holiday cash:
- 53% have sold or expect to sell items they own to help pay for the holidays, rising to 66% of Gen Z and 69% of millennials.
- Heading into the holidays, handbags from brands like Tory Burch, Coach and Longchamp, and occasion and contemporary labels like DÔEN, Veronica Beard and Ulla Johnson, are among the top earners on ThredUp’s Direct Listing.
“The clothes you’re not wearing can help fund the gifts you’re giving,” said Danielle Vermeer, ThredUp head of product. “With Clean Out and Direct Listing, it’s easy to turn pieces you no longer wear into extra holiday cash. There’s something really fun about knowing that what’s sitting in your closet could become someone else’s next great find.”
View the 2026 Holiday Resale Report here.
About the 2026 Holiday Resale Report
ThredUp’s 2026 Holiday Resale Report combines consumer survey data from GlobalData, a third-party retail analytics firm, with ThredUp’s proprietary marketplace data. GlobalData conducted the survey for ThredUp from Sept. 4 to Sept. 18, 2026, among 2,123 U.S. adults, nationally representative by age, gender, location and income. Year-over-year survey comparisons are based on respondents’ recollection of the 2025 holiday season. Holiday sales figures compare ThredUp.com sales during the holiday season (Nov. 1 to Dec. 24) with full-year sales (Jan. 1 to Dec. 31), 2023 through 2025. Direct Listing figures are based on a sample of items sold by individual sellers through ThredUp’s Direct Listing from Oct. 20, 2025, to Oct. 20, 2026, and reflect average sale prices for brands and categories with at least 100 items sold.
About ThredUp
ThredUp is transforming resale with technology and a mission to inspire the world to think secondhand first, embracing the idea that the past is the future, and the future starts today. By making it easy to buy and sell secondhand, ThredUp has become one of the world’s largest online resale platforms for apparel, shoes, and accessories. Sellers love ThredUp because we make it easy to clean out their closets and unlock value for themselves or for the charity of their choice, all while doing good for the planet. Buyers love shopping value, premium, and luxury brands all in one place, at up to 90% off estimated retail price. Our proprietary operating platform is the foundation for our managed marketplace and consists of distributed processing infrastructure, proprietary software and systems, and data science expertise. With ThredUp’s Resale-as-a-Service, some of the world’s leading brands and retailers are leveraging our platform to deliver customizable, scalable resale experiences to their customers. ThredUp has processed over 250 million unique secondhand items from 60,000 brands across 100 categories. By extending the life cycle of clothing, ThredUp is changing the way consumers shop and ushering in a more sustainable future for the fashion industry — a future where the future of fashion feels good.
Contacts
Media Contact
Farrell Klein / Jamie Han
media@thredup.com
Media gallery
