Susan Young at her shop, It's a Man's World (Photo by Jay Paul)
As people become more conscious about the environmental impact of the fashion industry, many are interested in using this important consumer decision to fuel a more sustainable lifestyle. According to a report by McKinsey & Company, the fashion industry accounts for 4% of global greenhouse emissions.
“The biggest fashion trend this year is an action,” says Maggie Mereand, an Uptown Cheapskate resale shop franchise owner. “It’s all about sustainability and conscious shopping.”
Mereand opened her first Uptown Cheapskate location in Midlothian, 1403 Huguenot Road, in 2018 and is set to open a second store in March at 4513 Commonwealth Centre Parkway. She’s part of an international boom in fashion resale, a market that is growing at a rate 11 times faster than traditional retail, according to a global report by online resale giant Thredup. The report estimates that the resale market could be worth twice as much as fast fashion by 2030, at $84 billion compared to $40 billion.
Some of the shift in consumer habits may be attributable to the pandemic.
“The biggest thing COVID did was compel people to be more conscious of their money,” Mereand says. “People who weren't comfortable buying used clothing before were pushed to try secondhand selling and buying because of a financial need or a lifestyle change.”
At first, the pandemic hurt local secondhand retailers. “We saw a great downturn in business,” says Susan Youngs, owner of upscale men’s consignment shop It’s a Man’s World at 100 W. Broad St.
Though she has more than 600 consignors and shoppers from around the country, her Jackson Ward store saw reduced foot traffic during the pandemic. Aligning with global trends, things turned around in 2021, Youngs reporting a 90% increase in business.
“A lot of people just want their items to find a new home because they love the pieces they bring in,” Youngs says. “I have [everyone] from construction workers, doctors, powerful business professionals and more from all across the board.”
Rosewood Clothing Co. owner Ashley Carruthers (Photo by Alexis Courtney courtesy Rosewood Clothing Co.)
Ashley Carruthers, owner of Rosewood Clothing Co., shares a similar story. In 2014, Carruthers opened her first Rosewood storefront on Broad Street, just west of It’s a Man’s World. By June 2020, business was down so much she was looking to pack her items into storage.
“It was about survival,” she says. “I looked at warehouses and considered going virtual again.” Carruthers had launched her business selling new and found items on Etsy with a friend, so leaning into online sales was a clear option. But when a storefront became available in the Fan, she decided to corral her inventory into the smaller space and weather the storm.
Now, Rosewood is growing again and recently moved to 106 S. Robinson St., a much larger space it shares with Spacebomb Studios. She has plans to grow the brand’s secondhand collection, which she has curated during her travels and from a select group of regular consignors. Rosewood will add new items sourced from female makers as well as a collection of new fashions made in-house.
“Our city overly embraces this cyclical secondhand culture and shares it with pride,” Carruthers says. “There’s a wide demographic of people and friends looking for uniform stuff and those really special pieces.”
In the West End, Tunic Consignment emerged from the pandemic with a new owner and a bulging list of consignors. “We’ll hit 2,500 consignors soon,” owner Kyla Hart says.
Originally an employee, Hart bought the store in 2020 and saw an opportunity to grow. “The entire retail and consignment industry changed because of the pandemic,” she says. “People were at home and cleaning out their closets more, so we started to get really busy taking in new inventory.”
The influx of new items is what keeps Richmond’s secondhand scene so rich, according to Hart. “Because so many diverse people cycle things out of their closet for other people to love, there’s constantly new items to discover for shoppers,” she says.
Hart says she shopped at Goodwill and other secondhand stores to save money as she grew up. Her desire to live more sustainably eventually became her career. She started her first resale job at Clothes Mentor in Short Pump.
Hart says she has observed that its more than financial need or sustainability that drives consignors to contribute to the flow of resale fashion in Richmond. “Clothes are something we put a lot of love and emotion into,” she says. “It’s an emotional thing to take something you loved and give it to someone else to sell for you, but it’s rewarding because something they once loved someone else loves now, too.”
