U.S. online secondhand apparel resale platform ThredUp (NASDAQ:TDUP) disclosed at a Wells Fargo consumer conference that its Q2 revenue rose 17% year over year, with both buyer count and order volume up more than 20%, setting records across four metrics: buyers, sellers, orders and revenue. CEO and co-founder James Reinhart said this marked the company's seventh consecutive quarter of record revenue and EBITDA, along with positive free cash flow.

Reinhart attributed part of the improvement to exiting the European Remix business. ThredUp acquired Remix at the end of 2021, but rising European inflation and interest rates in 2022 pressured the business; the company announced its exit in summer 2024 and completed the transaction that November. After the exit, the company concentrated investment and personnel on the U.S. market and currently holds about $60 million in cash. Reinhart said the company does not currently view share buybacks as the best use of cash and prefers to keep investing in growth; he also acknowledged that the current business, at roughly $350 million in scale, is "still not large" and has a long way to go.

Management noted, however, that the demand environment weakened after Memorial Day, with budget-sensitive consumers becoming more selective and inclined to push down per-item transaction prices. The company cut its H2 outlook by about $7 million, but stressed that the revised guidance still includes growth, positive EBITDA and cash flow. Based on roughly 14 million units in H2, Reinhart said the cut equates to about $0.5 per unit. The company chose not to defend per-unit gross margin by holding prices high, prioritizing customer retention and engagement instead, and believes prices can eventually recover as the consumer environment improves, avoiding the need to reacquire lost users at higher cost. CFO Sean Sobers said the company first ruled out internal factors and concluded consumer weakness was the main cause; market conditions have not materially improved since the earnings release, and the timing of a recovery remains uncertain. Management cited consumer uncertainty and the impact of gasoline prices, and said resolution of strait-related uncertainty could help consumer spending recover, though it may take months.

To improve its economic model, ThredUp is betting on two levers: broadening sales channels and increasing the share of higher-end goods in its merchandise mix. Its Direct Listing service allows some sellers (especially existing clean-out bag users) to list items themselves, at prices roughly double those of the core marketplace; the company is also exploring livestream selling and believes AI technology is needed to efficiently scale sales of unique one-off items. Reinhart views "agentic commerce" as a major shift comparable to the migration between online and offline retail, and believes secondhand search and discovery will benefit from ThredUp's structured product data, standardized images and return policy.

Operationally, ThredUp lists about 100,000 new items daily and expects to sell about 25 million items across 35,000 brands and 100 categories this year. Reinhart said that despite near-term pressure, resale demand remains healthy overall and industry players continue to expand; the key is how each company converts category growth into sustainable monetization and cash flow.

Source: ThredUp Posts Record Q2, Navigates More Price-Sensitive Shoppers · Originally published 2026-09-27