The Rise of Vintage and Emerging Brands in Luxury Resale

The New Vintage Era

The market for vintage fashion, defined as items over 15 years old, has seen a significant surge, with demand on The RealReal (TRR) increasing by 432% between 2020 and 2026, according to a recent report.

A notable shift this year is the move in consumer interest from the 1990s to pieces from the early 2000s. While searches for '90s items rose by 63% year-on-year, '2000s-era searches jumped by 93%. This trend is also reflected in designer searches, with "Phoebe Philo Celine" up by 650%, "Nicolas Ghesquière Balenciaga" by 400%, and "Marc Jacobs Louis Vuitton" by 375%.

The growing popularity of early 2000s fashion signifies a new chapter for the resale market. Brands founded around that time, such as Acne Studios, are now transitioning into cult vintage items, a status they didn't hold just a few years ago. Experts note that "cusp-y" items from this period, like those from Acne and Rodarte, are gaining traction, suggesting potential price increases in the near future.

Emerging Brands Gain Traction

Emerging designer brands are experiencing rapid growth on TRR, with demand significantly outstripping supply. For the Japanese label Ssstein, demand is growing 36 times faster than supply, with a 361% year-on-year increase in demand versus a mere 10% in supply. Similarly, demand for Colleen Allen is growing 1.73 times faster than supply, with demand up 289% compared to a 166% supply increase.

New York-based labels Rùadh, Heirlome, and Zankov are also demonstrating high "obsession-to-supply" ratios, a metric TRR uses to gauge interest relative to availability. Zankov, for instance, has 175 obsessions per item, with a total of 11,226 obsessions for only 64 items (a 79% year-on-year increase in available items).

This burgeoning interest in lesser-known brands is attributed to consumers discovering them through alternative channels like Substack and TikTok, rather than solely traditional fashion media. The inclusion of these emerging brands in the resale market, even if their supply is currently limited compared to demand, is seen as a positive development.