The Clothing Resale Industry Is Thriving
A High-Growth, Recession-Resilient Opportunity
Uptown Cheapskate sits at the center of the booming clothing resale industry. Driven by an explosion of interest in the space, particularly with younger generations, the secondhand apparel market in the U.S. has nearly doubled to $49BN over the past 5 years and is showing no signs of slowing down. What’s more, with recession-resilient characteristics, the industry is poised to thrive in any economic climate.
An Accelerating Shift To Resale
- U.S. secondhand apparel market is forecasted to grow to $74BN by 2029
- Resale has grown 5x faster than the broader retail clothing sector
- The appeal of resale is particularly pronounced for Millennials and Gen Z
- Shopping resale helps support a more sustainable future
- Resale typically thrives in challenging economic environments
“The secondhand clothing industry is exploding right now. We’re seeing a tremendous rise in the popularity of resale shopping, which has translated into strong growth in both customer traffic and profitability for our stores.”
- Tyler Gordon
Co-CEO of BaseCamp Franchising
“The secondhand clothing industry is exploding right now. We’re seeing a tremendous rise in the popularity of resale shopping, which has translated into strong growth in both customer traffic and profitability for our stores.”
- Chelsea Sloan Carroll
Co-Founder
Uptown’s Edge

Strong Alignment With Sustainability
In the United States, the average customer buys a staggering amount of clothing, and most of those items end up in landfills. That’s where Uptown Cheapskate enters the picture. By giving some of those same items a second or third life, Uptown contributes meaningfully to environmental sustainability. In 2024 alone, Uptown Cheapskate and its sister brand Kid to Kid kept over 25 million items out of landfills and recently surpassed 225 million used items sold since inception!
Zach Gordon
Co-CEO
Recession-Resilient Financial Profile
The growth of the resale industry doesn’t stop during economic downturns. If anything, it is during periods of economic turmoil that our hard to miss value proposition really comes into focus. Whether the sun is shining or there are dark clouds on the horizon, Uptown Cheapskate delivers an all-weather financial profile that’s hard to match.
