A model walks down a London runway in a jacket that has already belonged to someone else. The photographers do not flinch. The audience does not gasp. Within minutes, the jacket is available to buy through an app, secondhand, from a stranger’s wardrobe.
That scene would have been unthinkable at a major fashion week not so long ago. This September, it was on the official schedule.
Four cities, one month
Every September, the fashion world moves through four cities in a row, showing what we will all be wearing next spring. New York went first, from 10 to 15 September. London followed from 17 to 21 September. Milan ran from 22 September and closes today, and Paris opens today for its final stretch into early October.
It is a month built on newness. New collections, new designers, new colours we will be told we cannot live without. Which is exactly why the most interesting thing to come out of it this year was something old.
London put secondhand on the schedule
The British Fashion Council’s September schedule included eBay’s Endless Runway, a show built entirely around preloved clothing and shoppable live through eBay’s own platform. It sat with Burberry’s return and Marks and Spencer’s first-ever London Fashion Week show.
Think about that combination for a moment. A heritage luxury house, a high street favourite and a resale marketplace, all treated as fashion in their own right. The message was not subtle. Secondhand is no longer the thing you do when you cannot afford the real thing. It is part of the real thing.
The numbers behind the rail
This is not just a mood. It is a market. ThredUp’s 2026 resale report expects the global secondhand clothing market to reach $393 billion by 2030, growing about twice as fast as fashion as a whole. Vinted, the resale app that started in Lithuania, reported €10.8 billion worth of goods handed over on its platform last year, up 47 per cent, and crossed €1.1 billion in revenue.
The report also found that nearly half of secondhand shoppers now find their next piece through social media and creators rather than by searching for it. In other words, people are not only buying secondhand to save money. They are browsing it for fun, the way they used to browse a shop window.
Dressing well is a portfolio decision
I think about my wardrobe the way I think about my investments, which is probably more often than is healthy. Most of the value comes from a few dependable pieces that do the work year after year. The exciting purchases are the ones that tend to disappoint.
It is the same logic I described in The Boring Basket That Beat My Best Idea. The core does the heavy lifting. The trend is the fun bit around the edge, and it should stay.
Resale changes the maths in two ways. First, you can buy a well-made core piece for a fraction of its original price, which means the cost of every wear drops before you even put it on. Second, good pieces now have a second life and a resale value. A coat that holds its price when you sell it on has cost you far less than its label suggests. A fast fashion top that nobody wants secondhand has cost you everything you paid for it.
The catch
Resale apps are brilliant at one thing, and it is not saving you money. It is making spending feel painless. When a dress costs £8 and arrives in two days, it is easy to buy four. A bargain you never wear is not a bargain. It is full price for nothing.
Selling has its own small print too. Platforms in the UK and across the European Union now report sellers’ earnings to the tax authorities, and similar rules exist in many other countries. Clearing out your own wardrobe is one thing. Buying to resell is a business, and it is worth checking the rules where you live before it turns into one by accident.
What I take from it
Fashion month is designed to make last season feel tired. This year, it quietly admitted that last season still has value.
I am not giving up new clothes, and I am not pretending every secondhand find is a treasure. What I am doing is buying fewer things, buying them better, and asking one question before I pay for anything. Would somebody else want this in three years? If the answer is yes, it is probably worth owning. If the answer is no, it probably is not worth buying at all.
This is not financial advice, just what my wardrobe has taught me.
The Jacqueline Brand — knowledge builds confidence, and confidence builds wealth. This is editorial commentary for information and education only. It is not financial, investment or professional advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any investment. The Jacqueline Brand is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and past performance is not a guide to future returns. Figures were correct at the time of publication. Always do your own research and consider speaking to a regulated adviser. Where cryptoassets are discussed, they are high risk and largely unregulated in the UK, and you could lose all the money you invest. The Collection
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