South Korean fashion companies are entering the secondhand clothing trade one after another. Data from market research firm 6Wresearch shows that the South Korean secondhand clothing market was worth $318 million (about 450 billion won) in 2025 and is expected to grow to $423 million (about 600 billion won) by 2032. Although the scale is expanding, whether companies can profit from it is another matter: secondhand clothes are acquired, inspected, cleaned, photographed, and priced item by item, so the per-item merchandising cost is high, while the acquisition price is far lower than that of new products. The larger the transaction volume and the more items awaiting processing, the harder it is to improve profitability.

Key points

  • 6Wresearch: South Korea's secondhand clothing market was $318 million in 2025 and is projected to reach $423 million by 2032
  • Musinsa's "Musinsa Used" saw transaction value rise 45% month on month and orders increase 25% in August, with more than 20,000 sellers participating each month over the past five months
  • Sweden's Sellpy, about 80% owned by H&M Group, is still unprofitable 12 years after its founding; Vinted had GMV of 10.8 billion euros and net profit of 62 million euros last year

Three paths for South Korean platforms

"Musinsa Used," operated by Musinsa, adopts a consignment model: sellers send in their clothes, and the platform handles pickup, quality inspection, product management, photography, listing, delivery, and customer service. Its transaction value in August grew 45% from July, order volume rose 25%, and more than 20,000 sellers participated each month over the past five months.

Kolon Industries' FnC division launched "OLO Relay Market" in 2022 and has expanded its acquisition scope to other brands starting this year, covering more than 170 brands; transaction value in the first half of this year was about 4.4 times that of the initial period in the second half of 2022. Sellers receive points usable on Kolon Mall.

LF operates "Elli Market" for its own brands such as Hazzys, DAKS, and Maestro, issuing "Elli Reward" points usable across LF Mall to customers who hand in items. LF disclosed that as of February 2026, the repurchase rate on LF Mall among Elli Market customers was 34%, and the usage rate of issued Elli Reward points reached 73%.

Overseas comparison: the different books of Sellpy and Vinted

Sweden's Sellpy, about 80% owned by H&M Group, has a model similar to South Korea's consignment type: the company handles most stages including sorting, quality inspection, photography, pricing, warehousing, and shipping, and sellers simply send in their items. The cost is a heavy burden on the platform, and 12 years after its founding in 2014, it is still loss-making.

European secondhand platform Vinted takes the opposite route: sellers list items themselves and trade directly with buyers, compressing merchandising costs. The platform charges sellers no commission, but charges buyers a fee of about 5% of the item price plus $0.7 (per its official website), and also offers paid advertising services such as top search placement for sellers. Last year Vinted's transaction value was 10.8 billion euros, up 47% year on year, with revenue of 1.1 billion euros and net profit of 62 million euros. It puts money into logistics and payment systems rather than handling old clothes item by item.

Industry insiders point out that every secondhand garment must go through quality inspection and merchandising, so rising transaction volume does not mean profitability improves immediately; however, this kind of business can bring old customers back to their own platforms and thereby drive new product purchases, so its value should not be measured by revenue or profit alone. Whether South Korean fashion companies' secondhand businesses can achieve both growth and profitability remains to be seen.

Source: [Biz Talk Talk] Growing secondhand fashion market... brands jump in directly, but 'making money is hard' - Chosun Biz · Originally published on 2026-10-12