Buenos Aires-based second-hand clothing brand Galpón de Ropa, founded in 2012, has now opened inside one of Buenos Aires' most important shopping malls, selling curated second-hand clothing, footwear and accessories within the mall, while also accepting old clothes brought in by consumers for recirculation and managing donations of discarded garments. The brand has thus built a complete circular fashion chain inside the mall.

Key points

  • ThredUp and GlobalData's Resale Report 2026 projects that the global second-hand clothing market will reach approximately $393 billion by 2030, growing at nearly twice the rate of the overall apparel market.
  • Gen Z and millennials will contribute more than 70% of the growth through 2030.
  • Argentine brand Hermosa Beach, based in Córdoba, entered Córdoba Shopping in February 2024, exchanging old-clothing drop-off points for digital payment credit.

Spanish-language news reports note that the language of the second-hand clothing industry itself is changing: the international business world rarely uses "used clothing" anymore, shifting instead to terms such as pre-owned, resale, recommerce, vintage and circular fashion. Behind the shift in terminology is a diversification of consumer motivations. According to Coli's analysis, current second-hand consumption is driven by three motivations: price, sustainability and selection. Price remains the reason some consumers seek affordable clothing, but it is no longer the only one; sustainability constitutes a steadily growing consumer group that buys second-hand out of proactive environmental awareness and is less price-sensitive; the selection motivation points to brands, styles or discontinued models that are hard to find through traditional retail channels.

Second-hand retail in shopping malls has already taken hold in many places

Second-hand brands entering shopping malls did not begin in Buenos Aires. In Sweden, Cirkus Second Hand operates inside Westfield Mall of Scandinavia, Stockholm's largest mall, and is officially classified under Fashion; not long ago its store moved to a more prominent location next to the LEGO Store. In Germany, Franky Brown Vintage Apparel sells curated Ralph Lauren, Carhartt, Patagonia and The North Face clothing at Westfield Centro in Oberhausen, and renewed its lease in 2026. In Malaysia, Japanese chain 2nd STREET (with more than 1,000 stores worldwide) opened five consecutive units inside AEON Taman Equine Shopping Centre. In the United States, this model was tried seven years ago: in 2019, Macy's introduced ThredUp sections in 40 stores, while JCPenney set up 500 to 1,000 square-foot sections in 30 stores, with merchandise refreshed weekly. This year, Westfield went further with Reloved Market, running second-hand markets in France, Austria, Germany and the United States that blend vintage, upcycling, influencers and entertainment.

The mall's calculation: foot traffic, not just transactions

The value of a second-hand section to a mall lies in creating reasons to visit. A traditional store offers a reason to visit only when the customer already intends to buy, whereas a second-hand space provides at least three: when customers bring clothes to consign or donate, when they return to collect payment or check their account credit, and when they come to shop. Three visits bring longer dwell time, and also bring in a customer group that previously seldom set foot in malls: young, value-conscious, environmentally aware and highly digital—exactly the audience premium brands crave but do not always reach. The report's core judgment is that second-hand does not cannibalize traditional retail's foot traffic, but rather brings in the traffic that traditional retail cannot create on its own.

The Córdoba precedent

Before the store news emerged in Buenos Aires, a similar experiment had already taken place in Córdoba, Argentina. In February 2024, Hermosa Beach, a brand founded in 2019 by Lucía "Luchy" Colman and her mother Gabriela Fracchia, entered Córdoba Shopping—but not in the form of a second-hand clothing store, rather as a clothing drop-off point where customers could bring old clothes. In return, customers received ¡appa! GIFT—mall digital payment credit that can be spent at participating stores. This logic aligns with Coli's description: some people come to the mall to drop off clothes and end up spending at another store before leaving. Sales are concentrated at the Recta Martinoli store, which at the time carried more than 1,500 branded garments spanning Zara, H&M, Jazmín Chebar, María Cher and others, with some items priced as low as 30% of the original (up to 70% off the original price). For each item sold, the supplier receives a 50% share; garments not fit for sale are donated to children's canteens in the city of Córdoba. By then the brand had accumulated more than 2,500 suppliers and was evaluating opening a store in the southern area and experimenting with franchising.

Experiment or trend

Coli offers three possible interpretations: an isolated case, the beginning of a local trend, or evidence that Argentina is joining a global wave. Its own judgment leans toward the latter two—what looks like an anomaly today may be the herald of what comes next.

Source: La ropa usada ya tiene lugar en el shopping: el mercado second hand moverá US$ 393.000 millones en 2030 (y Córdoba se anticipó con Hermosa Beach) · Originally published 2026-09-30