If fashion companies are still sleeping on peer-to-peer resale, it may be time to wake up.

Consumers are increasingly seeking branded resells, according to a new study released Monday by resell-as-a-service platform Recurate in partnership with social impact agency BBMG.

Of approximately 11,000 adults surveyed from 12 different markets around the world, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, approximately three-quarters (74%) resell clothing at some level I answered that I was engaged in .

While industry types tend to see sustainability initiatives as costly or difficult to scale, providing a peer-to-peer platform could help a market expected to exceed $82 billion by 2026. It is a “relatively low-lift, low-resource” means of entry. Karin Dillie, Vice President of Partnerships at Recurate, said:

“You don’t have to build that warehouse,” Dilly said. “You don’t have to take all the items home.”

The fact that the survey’s respondents crossed age, gender and socioeconomic boundaries debunks the long-held myth that resale is largely the prerogative of conscious Gen Z and younger millennials, Dilly says. It is true that “circulars,” cohorts of people who buy and sell second-hand goods at the same time, emerged from these younger demographics, but so-called recommerce “participants” do not have a simple characterization. Do one or both to ignore.

“Our data is kind of wrong. People have been buying second-hand and selling second-hand for a very long time,” said Dilly, who worked at luxury auction house Sotheby’s. “It’s really technology that’s magnifying it, so I think that’s one of the reasons why it’s a younger demographic that’s really interested in technology right now. You know, we sell at Sotheby’s. The lowest price we can do is $20,000, which is a pretty high bar.”

Another debunked misconception is that people are looking for rare items. The study found that 64% of shoppers and 55% of sellers traded in mid-priced brands such as J.Crew, Lululemon and Nike, followed by 40% of shoppers and 42% of sellers from Gap, H&M. , Zara. In fact, only 28% of shoppers and 27% of sellers traded luxury brands such as Chanel, Gucci and Supreme.

71% of recommerce participants were concerned about their impact on the planet, but supporting Mother Earth was not top of their priority list. Due to the environment, only 12% of shoppers and 15% of sellers carry used goods. Most shoppers (22%) bought second-hand goods as a way to save money. The number one reason (23%) for selling junk items was to dispose of unused items.

Recurate and BBMG have found that offering a peer-to-peer option is not only the fastest way for brands to own the entire lifecycle of their products, it is also the most in-demand. Nearly 90% of him in the circular and his 80% of participants say they trust brand-driven recommerce over the second-hand market. Sellers also prefer it because it allows them to retain most of the item’s value. This is the main driving force behind their actions.

But there are also benefits to brand-controlled resales, where brands reclaim old items in exchange for cash, credit, or discounts, Dilley said. Businesses may want to start a take-back program, perhaps using digital identities to authenticate high-value items or enable consignment sales in brick-and-mortar stores. Through this more hands-on approach, they can also phase in cleaning and repair components and even offer options to recycle badly worn clothing. Rather, Recurate’s goal is to power multiple reselling models that can coexist simultaneously, she said.

“There are many ways to engage with customers,” says Dillie. “So when we talk to brands about our technology, we talk in an almost consultative way about what the end goal is. How do you want to engage with your customers?”

No matter how a brand does it, taking ownership of a used item makes it more sticky, she added. Case in point: Recurate and she says 75% of people surveyed by BBMG say recommerce increases brand loyalty and frequency. Also, 85% of advertisers, 74% of shoppers and 69% of sellers said they would try new brands if second-hand was an option.

Recurate co-founder Adam Siegel says that for brands working hard to reach new customers, reselling accomplishes the same thing “at a much lower cost” than traditional marketing channels, including social media. says it can.

“The real benefit isn’t always in the direct trade, you know, buying and selling second-hand goods,” he said. “It’s important to have another opportunity to engage with customers, bring them back into the ecosystem, and have the opportunity to increase their loyalty.”

For Siegel, who describes himself as a “dark green” environmentalist, seeing value in the “second, third, fourth sale” of a product could replace the production of new goods. Brands can decouple profits from constant churn, resulting in less waste. Today’s generation is accustomed to the fast pace of consumption, and even 72% of recommerce shoppers say he buys an item every two to three months, the study reveals. Resale, he said, allows people to scratch that itch without scrambling for new resources. Also, as recommerce becomes more prevalent, consumers will start looking for brands that sell high-quality products with high resale value and long distribution periods.

Siegel equates this with the automotive industry. In the automotive industry, people tend to buy cars with resale value in mind. Consumers may be willing to pay more at first if they know they can squeeze a better price down the road. For brands, being able to offer recommerce with little loss of value is also a sign of product quality.

Meanwhile, the two-year-old company has been busy. Recurate raised a $14 million series A round in May, led by Chicago-based investor Jump Capital. Currently working with over 50 brands with his partners, including Another Tomorrow, Frye, Mara Hoffman, Outerknown, Steve Madden and more. By the end of the year, he hopes to bring 50 more people on board.

Brand-driven reselling is still a relatively new concept and requires a different way of thinking, says Siegel. But where Recurate once had to educate companies about the resell market opportunity, now brands are knocking on the door.

“It’s kind of a brand stampede right now … and I think this will be around for a while,” he said. “I think they’ve all come to recognize the growth of the market.”