At the resale site Poshmark, orders are up for handbags and work-worthy dresses when compared to last year. The same goes for blazers, suit jackets and heels. 

Projections show the trend growing stronger. The secondhand clothing business is expected to more than double, from $36 billion to $77 billion in 2025, according to a recent report commissioned by the secondhand marketplace ThredUP and the research firm GlobalData. 

The growth is driven by an influx of new sellers putting high-quality clothing into the market, said James Reinhart, co-founder and CEO of ThredUP. He estimates that 9 billion clothing items that are hardly worn are sitting in shoppers’ closets.

Even before COVID-19, buying and selling second hand clothing was popular, but the pandemic made the appetite for thrift even more appealing.

Reinhart suggested that the post-pandemic shopper has a new mindset around clothing consumption. “It’s not this buy, wear, throw out. There is this consciousness that happened during the pandemic where people were much more sensitive to this notion of waste.”

For months, the 29-year-old Clark has had the urge to declutter her overflowing wardrobe, and she began piling up clothes for donation several weeks ago. But she’ll be purchasing new clothes. 

Consumers are purging more than their worn-out pandemic wear.

At the luxury resale site TheRealReal, with more than 22 million members, the total value of pre-owned goods sold this year through May was about $239 million, up by 53 percent from the same period in 2019, said Julie Wainwright, the founder and CEO.

Some are taking the opportunity to reinvent their personal style, said Jessica Richards, a trend forecaster and fashion director for the Accessories Council, a nonprofit trade group.

“We saw a lot of consumers abandon their mindless shopping habits and instead focus on investment dressing. Less of being ‘sick’ of their pandemic wardrobes but more wondering why they might own as much or what is the breadth of their closet,” she said. “It’s now about streamlining and zeroing in on what their desired personal style image should be.”

Not everybody is looking to abandon their COVID-19 style, however.

In Lynchburg, Virginia, 33-year-old Cameron Howe is ready to burn just about everything she has worn during the pandemic — except her impressive legging collection — as she transitions from a school career.

“I bought 15 to 20 plus pairs of leggings,” she said. “In a few weeks, I’ll start a new career as a project manager for a local nonprofit. I plan on wearing leggings to work. Thankfully, both my past and new employer are legging-friendly. I don’t really want to wear real pants again. I developed an absolute love of leggings during the pandemic.”

Among those benefiting from the pandemic reawakening in clothes are dry cleaners.

Tom Ryan, vice president of franchising for CD One Price Cleaners, with 34 locations in the Chicago area, said they’ve been seeing an upward turn in dry-cleaning customers after a plunge of 80 percent during the pandemic.

“In March, we started making progress again given the vaccine distribution,” he said. “As more people go back to work, we’re finally starting to see more people bringing their in-office clothes back for professional cleaning. Still, we expect post-pandemic attire and fashion trends to be different going forward with more people in the office less often.”

Ryan expects business casual to be more the new normal — swapping out button-up shirts for more polo-style wear. 

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