After completing its acquisitions of rental platform Hirestreet and resale platform Thrift+, CTR Group has officially established the circular fashion group Zoa Group. Its brands will continue to operate under their existing names, while the group level shares knowledge and resources, with the goal of generating multiple rounds of revenue from the same item. CTR Group CEO Mark FitzGerald said the company has served major UK retailers for years and repeatedly seen the problem of unsold inventory having nowhere to go; Zoa is the platform built for this, and it will expand into verticals including menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, and electronics.

Key points

  • CTR Group acquired Thrift+ in [month missing] 2025 and rental platform Hirestreet in September 2026; after both acquisitions were completed, it established the group entity Zoa Group.
  • Zoa's brands have collectively handled more than 10 million secondhand transactions, covering more than 20 sales channels, and have absorbed book and home electronics platforms including Country House Library, Reuseabook, and Wowzer.
  • CTR Group disclosed that it will complete two more acquisitions in the circular fashion sector before the end of 2026.

From going it alone to group operations

Unlike most secondhand businesses that operate separately, CTR's path is to package scattered circular business models into a group structure. Acquired brands keep their original names for consumer-facing operations, but the knowledge, channels, and technology resources behind them are connected at the group level. This design means the same item does not have to circulate on only one platform, but can generate revenue multiple times across channels. In addition to clothing and footwear, its business has extended to books (Country House Library, Reuseabook) and home electronics (Wowzer), with coverage far beyond single-category secondhand apparel platforms.

CTR is pushing this structure further. In commenting on the business layout, group president FitzGerald specifically emphasized demand across vertical categories—"whether menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, or electronics, we are building a 'home' for all of them." Currently, its brands have collectively completed more than 10 million secondhand transactions, covering more than 20 sales channels, giving Zoa a foundation for scaled operations in data, supply chains, and resale channels. CTR also stated clearly that it expects to complete at least two more acquisitions before the end of 2026, showing that its strategy of consolidating the circular fashion market is relatively aggressive.

The backdrop of tightening regulation

Founded in the circular fashion track, Zoa is moving to the rhythm of regulatory pressure. Since 2026, the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) has prohibited companies with more than [number missing] employees and annual net turnover exceeding [number missing] euros from destroying unsold clothing, accessories, and footwear. This rule forces large retailers to find takers for inventory that cannot be sold normally, and also creates a market for professional circular distribution and resale platforms that has grown from a policy gap. The current scope of ESPR does not yet have jurisdiction over SMEs that fall below the employee and revenue thresholds, but the trend favors the secondhand resale industry. The industry backdrop Zoa faces is relatively favorable.

It is worth noting that large brands' inventory-clearing needs are being pushed from "destruction" toward "redistribution." The specific value of channels lies in whether they can truly sell the same item multiple times—that is, moving from single sales to wholesale circulation, rather than again debating how much secondhand versus first-hand is sold and how much remains.

Significance for the industry

CTR has adopted group-based operations and has been integrating multiple circular fashion platforms for two years, with a path of connecting financing, B2C, rental, and resale, and turning managed services (infrastructure used for e-commerce warehousing) into a core business. Whatever strategy comes next, internally it shows that the scale effects of the secondhand transaction market are being scaled up, and multi-cycle operating methods will directly affect the direction of the industry. For all Western secondhand goods suppliers exporting to Africa and other markets, and for those seeking opportunities in global value transfer, this will produce new changes. Chinese secondhand textile exporters may also be looking for new channels amid market changes.

The landing point of Zoa this time runs against the previous trend of vertical integration: whether the scale effect of covering multiple secondhand categories at the same time will increase collection volumes in scenarios combining rental and resale depends both on the entry point for used clothing and on future adoption across all secondhand platforms. Undoubtedly, group-based operations will set a new direction for UK retail inventory and the secondhand market layout.

Source: Hirestreet's new owner launches circularity group · Originally published 2026-10-13