Boom in used-clothing due to cost-of-living sparks revenue surge for Go Thrift
Used-clothing retailers, Go Thrift, has announced a 90% increase in revenue, year-on-year, in the last quarter.
This comes on the back of record new year sales, with January sales tracking 38% ahead of projected revenue and 180% up year on year.
New figures show that 57% of consumers want the fashion industry to become more sustainable but 61% of shoppers say they’re more concerned about the price of clothing as the current UK cost-of-living crisis continues.
Due to these figures and the news that 62% of Gen Z and Millennials say they now look for an item second-hand before purchasing new, there is little surprise that the second-hand clothing industry is predicted to be bigger than fast fashion by 2030.
Go Thrift focuses on a circular fashion business model and has shaken-up the fast fashion industry by altering consumer shopping habits through purchases of quality used-clothing for both men and women.
Since its launch in 2019, Go Thrift has re-circulated 200,000 items of quality, used, high-street clothes, with big brands listed on the retailer’s website including Levi’s, Adidas and Ralph Lauren.
CEO and Co-Founder Carl Walker said: “Go Thrift is going from strength to strength. We started as a completely bootstrapped company to turning over £1.2 million in the second year of trading.
“It’s a very exciting time for us. After deploying the investment received earlier this year, sales have boomed and 2022 Q4 revenue was up by 90% up year-on-year. Black Friday week alone, we were 160% up on last year.
“The global second-hand fashion market is growing three times faster than the global fashion market overall. By 2030 the market is expected to be bigger than fast fashion, making this investment round an attractive opportunity for investors who want to be ahead of the game in this sector.”
Walker and his Co-Founders Sam Hunter, Sarah Dean & Katie Walker have set an ambitious yet achievable fundraising target of £1 million in this second round to rapidly scale-up in response to demand and to increase the amount of inventory listed online. The funding will also lay the foundations for expansion throughout Europe.”
In addition, Carl and his Co-Founders will grow the Go Thrift team by employing 15 new warehouse staff members over two years. This follows the major hire of Paul Stevens as CMO who has worked with billion-pound brands including Apple and Coca Cola.
Walker continues: “We offer a more sustainable and affordable way of shopping for clothing online. Levi jeans is a key listing on our site and is consistently a best seller. We’ve sold over 60,000 pairs of Levi’s since launch, saving an estimated 456 million litres of water as each new pair of jeans bought requires 7,600 litres of water to make.
“We are turning the tide on fast-fashion, driving category awareness and creating a genuine impact on the planet and consumer pockets throughout the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.”
