As sneakers go mainstream, Nike is the most resold brand in fashion

With all the resellers, bots, and resale sites saturating the sneaker industry, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Nike is the most resold brand on the market, as The Fashion Law reported. In an analysis done by SaveOnEnergy — that scoured popular resale sites like Depop, eBay, ASOS Marketplace, Etsy, and more — Nike was “by far the most resold brand in the world, with a staggering 1.16 million listings in total” across the aforementioned resale platforms.

Following in the footsteps of the sneaker brand were Zara, Topshop, ASOS’ own brand, and Adidas. But while the resell of Nike and Adidas makes sense, given the investment-like value of sneakers, it’s interesting to see fast fashion brands resold at such rates — perhaps speaking to the sheer amount of fast fashion clothing there is, or maybe Gen Z’s attempt at thrifting. Still, who would pay near-retail price for a used Zara top that will inevitably fall apart upon first wear?

So much fast fashion — Apparently, a lot of people — the British division of SaveOnEnergy found that most resold items in the U.K. also came from fast fashion brands — both of the traditional and the ultra-fast fashion varieties, thereby helping to “increase the longevity of their products.” PrettyLittleThing, a fast fashion retailer based in the U.K., even “ranked as one of the most resold brands in the world, with 502,510 total listings across the platforms studied,” SaveOnEnergy’s study revealed. Fellow ultra-fast fashion brands Boohoo and Missguided also ranked among the top 20 resold brands.

While this news does potentially debunk the widely-understood fast fashion mentality of “purchase, Instagram, return (or trash),” it also tells us just how many pieces these companies are manufacturing. In a 2020 study, Vice found that Boohoo uploaded around 772 new garments a week, averaging around 116 new items a day. Over the course of a year, that number becomes 40,144 individual products, reproduced and sold at even greater numbers. No wonder fast fashion companies rank high on resell lists — there’s too much to go around.

Luxury goods, and their fakes, are reselling fast — Behind the extensive amount of fast fashion available on resale sites, SaveOnEnergy found, are brands like luxury designers and hyped streetwear. Much like Nike shoes, goods from Gucci, Supreme, Off-White, Jordan Brand, Dior, Chanel, and Champion often retain their value even years after their initial purchase — that is, if you ensure you’re buying an authentic piece, and not a replica.

The Fashion Law found resell on Etsy was particularly partial to fake goods. A search of Off-White products on Etsy completed by TFL, for example, revealed that the marketplace site is rife with counterfeit products — from $30 T-shirts bearing Off-White’s wordmarks to cheap Off-White keychains complete with the brand’s signature red zip tie. TFL noticed the prevalence of trademark-infringing goods was similar when searching other luxury brands like Gucci, Dior, and Supreme.

Authentic service — Resale sites, including Etsy, are popular because consumers can usually buy something used for a cheaper price than retail. But overwhelming demand, which leads to an increase in fake goods, may make consumers warier of buying designer or streetwear products from a resale site.

It’s worth noting that Nike may have topped such luxury brands thanks to the implementation of authenticity verification, which guarantees the credibility of sneakers. Through proof of purchase, expert review, and design checks, sites like eBay, StockX, GOAT promise their consumers nothing but authentic kicks, and by the looks of SaveOnEnergy’s study, nothing but Nike.