Psychology of thrifting: Why Gen Z is drawn to thrift stores.
Thrifting has always felt like a treasure hunt, and a recent article about Gen Z and secondhand fashion put that into words. Circular fashion has moved beyond being an alternative and has become the first choice for those seeking pieces with a story.
The numbers help illustrate this: a BCG report commissioned by Vestiaire Collective, surveying 7,800 people in 70 countries in 2025, shows the secondhand market growing three times faster than the sale of new products, with a projected value of $360 billion by 2030. In the United States, 66% of Gen Z's wardrobes already consist of secondhand items – and handbags are the most popular item.
The stigma of "dead people's clothes" is a thing of the past. Victoria Zattoni, a lawyer who grew up among the thrift stores of Foz do Iguaçu, turned the tips she gave her friends into content on social media. Fiorella Mattheis, from the luxury handbag resale platform A Gringa, says that many young customers are now starting with luxury items directly from the secondhand market, something that didn't happen before. And Yasmim Estevam, who started with a pair of mom jeans for R$5 and has been running her thrift store in Fundinho, São Paulo, for 11 years, focuses on curated selections: each item passes through her hands.
What struck me most was the "psychology" aspect: finding a rare item among the racks gives you that rush of pleasure, and in a social media feed that constantly creates and buries trends, the thrift store operates at a different pace. Marina Roale, from Consumoteca, talks about the desire for authenticity and the "conversation value" – the item becomes a conversation starter when someone asks where it came from. There are also those who upcycle their finds and those who organize clothing swap nights with their friends.
However, it's important to heed the warning that appears in the article itself: just because there's a box of t-shirts for R$10 doesn't mean you need to buy everything. Thrifting is great; impulse buying, not so much.
Source: Glamour Brasil
The numbers help illustrate this: a BCG report commissioned by Vestiaire Collective, surveying 7,800 people in 70 countries in 2025, shows the secondhand market growing three times faster than the sale of new products, with a projected value of $360 billion by 2030. In the United States, 66% of Gen Z's wardrobes already consist of secondhand items – and handbags are the most popular item.
The stigma of "dead people's clothes" is a thing of the past. Victoria Zattoni, a lawyer who grew up among the thrift stores of Foz do Iguaçu, turned the tips she gave her friends into content on social media. Fiorella Mattheis, from the luxury handbag resale platform A Gringa, says that many young customers are now starting with luxury items directly from the secondhand market, something that didn't happen before. And Yasmim Estevam, who started with a pair of mom jeans for R$5 and has been running her thrift store in Fundinho, São Paulo, for 11 years, focuses on curated selections: each item passes through her hands.
What struck me most was the "psychology" aspect: finding a rare item among the racks gives you that rush of pleasure, and in a social media feed that constantly creates and buries trends, the thrift store operates at a different pace. Marina Roale, from Consumoteca, talks about the desire for authenticity and the "conversation value" – the item becomes a conversation starter when someone asks where it came from. There are also those who upcycle their finds and those who organize clothing swap nights with their friends.
However, it's important to heed the warning that appears in the article itself: just because there's a box of t-shirts for R$10 doesn't mean you need to buy everything. Thrifting is great; impulse buying, not so much.
Source: Glamour Brasil
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