Winter outerwear is priced relatively high due to fabric and functional factors, and now more and more Korean consumers are shifting their purchasing demand to the secondhand market. Reduced resistance to secondhand clothing, combined with the 1030 generation (those in their 20s and 30s) who are sensitive to trends and seasonal changes, is serving as the driving force, and secondhand transactions of high-priced winter outerwear are rapidly heating up.

According to a survey on secondhand clothing consumption behavior and attitudes conducted by Embran Trend Monitor last year, 79.1% of respondents considered secondhand transactions to be "a reasonable way of consuming that allows you to buy desired products at cheap prices"; 81.4% agreed that "secondhand clothing is cheaper than the original price, so buying it feels good"; 61.7% believed that "the general public can now naturally accept secondhand clothing," far above half; and 43.2% said their interest in secondhand clothing has risen recently.

This wave of demand is particularly evident on platforms around the Dongdaemun area. After the weather turned colder, transactions in the winter outerwear category on the Musinsa Used platform from the 1st to the 10th of this month increased by 68% compared with the same period last month, 24 percentage points higher than the 44% increase in overall platform transactions during the same period; outerwear accounted for about 30% of total transaction value. By category, down jacket transactions grew 93% within one month, the highest increase; trench coats and jackets grew 67%, and coats grew 33%. This shows that the secondhand transaction category has expanded from everyday clothing with less price pressure to high-unit-price seasonal goods such as down jackets and coats.

The platform then stepped up its winter marketing efforts: it first held the "26 FW Lightweight Down Jacket Festival," and later, as searches for "autumn clothing" increased about 53 times year-on-year and transactions for spring and autumn coats grew 247%, it launched "Autumn New Arrivals Week" accordingly.

The simplification of the distribution process has also lowered the entry threshold, becoming one of the driving forces behind the expansion of secondhand winter clothing consumption. Taking Musinsa Used as an example, it is not a direct person-to-person transaction but adopts a C2B2C (consumer-to-business-to-consumer) model: sellers put items into a "Useback" package and send it out, and the platform collects, photographs, maintains, lists, and handles delivery on their behalf. Sellers do not need to take photos, negotiate prices, or ship items themselves, and the platform has also introduced its own automated quality inspection technology to enhance credibility regarding item condition and other aspects.

An industry insider said that because autumn and winter clothing has a high unit price due to fabric and functional characteristics, young customers who want to buy secondhand clothing in good condition at reasonable prices are rapidly flowing in; demand centered on seasonal and winter outerwear such as lightweight down jackets, trench coats, and jackets continues, and transaction growth momentum in related categories is expected to continue in the short term.

Original source: South Korea's Newsis news agency

Source: 겨울옷은 비싸고 유행은 빠르고…중고 패딩·코트 찾는 2030 · Originally published on 2026-09-14