Celebrities from Travis Scott to Rihanna are promoting this luxury fashion trend
Brisbane, Australia-based Rachael Armstrong has been a fan of luxury thrifting for the past six years.
The content creator regularly scours online stores like Depop and Vestiaire Collective for unique finds, and says the extra effort allows her to find antiques that no one else has.
“I like the idea that you can have something that no one else will have, that will be different,” she says.
Others agree with him.
In recent years, luxury thrifting has gone from rare to mainstream.
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Increasingly, people are turning to the high-end affordable stores that have flourished in Los Angeles, New York, London, Singapore, Dubai and Tokyo. They scour TikTok and Instagram posts to get inspired. And they search dedicated platforms like 1stDibs, The RealReal, and Fashionfile to find designer clothes from the 1980s and 1990s. People spend hours searching for specific items through online sites and physical stores to find that one piece that has historical, aesthetic or contemporary relevance.
In a word, luxury thrifting is in fashion. “VINTAGE SOURCING HAS EXPLODED,” la-based secondhand sourcer Gabe Waller says.
“It’s a new way of shopping,” says Waller. “People love the thrill of the hunt.”
She says in the eight years she’s been into vintage fashion, it has changed dramatically. At the time, the term “sourcing” barely existed and people considered his work a hobby. Now, high-level savings are on everyone’s mind.
The global market for pre-owned luxury goods was projected to be worth $25 billion to $30 billion in 2020, according to a November study by global consultancy McKinsey & Company, and is poised to grow at a rate of 10% to 15% annually. According to McKinsey, this market is now growing three times faster than firsthand fashion.
” Vintage offers a way to stay up to date with high fashion at a low price,” says Michael Kardamakis, founder of. berlin-based vintage shop Andema.
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It is not that only middle-class people are looking for affordable designers. The search for unique or discontinued items also attracts affluent consumers who want to stand out, Cardamakis says.
“New stuff is expensive, but you can find it everywhere,” says Kardamakis. “One way for affluent people to differentiate themselves is to find an item that is inherently rare,” he says.
In recent years secondhand luxury fashion has been brought to the main stage by celebrities who regularly attend red-carpet events with one-of-a-kind pre-loved clothing.
For example, singer-songwriter Travis Scott wore a pair of cotton cargo trousers from the vintage Helmut Lang collection a few years ago. The trousers became so popular that the item sold for $2,000 on resale websites within days. It was replicated by many designers copying the style and also by companies making counterfeit goods.
“It became a little trend,” says Kardamakis. “It was just a pair of cotton pants.”
Kardamakis says that in addition to Scott, models Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner as well as much-publicized celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Rihanna have joined the ranks of stars taking the secondhand route to flaunt original looks and avoid active brand sponsorships. This has inspired fans to follow it.
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Waller says there’s also been a general interest sparked by creative directors of vintage fashion brands, who often use past looks to develop their latest collections.
For example, Chanel’s creative director Mathieu Blazey took inspiration from Karl Lagerfeld’s 2005 handbag collection and designed a similar model.
On the resale market, a 2005 Chanel Cerf Executive Tote Bag – which was discontinued in 2015 – saw a surge in demand, selling for nearly $4,500, up from nearly $2,000 a few weeks earlier.
“I haven’t seen that kind of demand for a Chanel bag in over a year,” says Waller.
Social media plays a big role in the growing popularity of secondhand fashion, as it is the place where trends and past collections are discussed. Much of Waller’s customer base is young.
“They grow up on TikTok where they see old stuff,” she says, and “it becomes second nature to them.”
Kardamakis agrees. Someone will watch a TikTok video of a jacket from the 1992 Alexander McQueen show, for example, where a tuft of her own hair is displayed on the upper portion of the vest in a clear acrylic pouch, and “Boom, it’s finished,” says Kardamakis. They will ask him for the same jacket.
“There’s a higher level of connoisseurship,” says Kardamakis. “Increased exposure to high-end fashion means people are better informed, better educated.”
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For Claudia Rico, founder and chief executive of UK-based Rewind Vintage Affairs, quality is also a factor in the appeal of pre-loved fashion.
She finds that luxury brands used to focus more on quality than they do today, making vintage more valuable.
“Today, you can get a Chanel bag that is of lower quality than a bag from a brand that no longer exists,” she says.
Apart from high quality, low price is also a deciding factor, she says, even with wealthy customers. She thinks that big celebrities often ask her for discounts.
“We have customers who are going after high-ticket items like (an Hermès) Himalayan Birkin bag, which costs around £100,000 (US$132,600). But if they can get sandals for £400 instead of £800, they’re going to do that, because it feels good to get a deal,” she says.
She says many of these items also become valuable over time, which can be attractive to people who might want to resell them later.
“In the times we live in, everyone is a little more careful and smarter about their spending,” she explains.
That said, some used clothes are worth more than new clothes. Kardamakis points out that some T-shirts and sweatshirts from eclectic brands can be found for several thousand euros, especially from designers who no longer produce them.
News will also increase interest.
Following designer icon Giorgio Armani’s passing last September, women’s jackets from his 1970s collection – his first attempt at a more masculine and unstructured look known as “power dressing” – became must-find items on secondhand sites.
“The vintage is better because it’s a moment in history, and the new creations don’t have that,” says Kardamakis. At least, not yet.
He personally examined a number of Armani jackets to purchase 1970s jackets that he thought would be in demand.
“I searched through thousands of puffer jackets, all the commercial stuff under the Armani brand, to find it,” he says. “You have to be like a detective.”
And brisbane-based Armstrong agrees. He likes hunting very much. On a recent trip to Paris, she purchased a €250 (US$290) Isabel Marant vintage dress at a local thrift shop.
Back in Australia, she was attracted to Dolce & Gabbana dresses from the 2000 Fall/Winter collection. He asked Waller to find it for him and bought it a week later for A$2,500 (US$1,700).
“It’s the kind of dress I’ll keep forever,” she says. “It was worth so much.”
This article originally appeared in Spring 2026 issue of Mansion Global Experience Luxury.
