Teenagers across the Bay Area are reshaping the thrift store scene, transforming once-overlooked secondhand shops into packed hubs of fashion, sustainability, and self-expression.
What was once seen as a budget-friendly necessity has become a mainstream trend. In the past, secondhand shopping carried a social stigma. Today, thrift stores are crowded with shoppers of all ages, and the rise of online reselling has driven up both demand and prices. Social media has helped fuel this shift, turning thrift hauls and curated resale listings into content with mass appeal.
According to ThredUp’s 2024 Resale Report, the global resale apparel market is projected to reach $350 billion by 2028, primarily driven by Gen Z consumers who are embracing secondhand fashion both in-store and online. A 2025 report from Capital One Shopping found that 83% of Gen Z shoppers have either purchased or expressed interest in secondhand clothing, over 10% higher than the average across all age groups.
At the same time, the popularity of thrift has exploded among younger generations. Social media trends and sustainability movements have made thrifting a visible part of youth culture.
“Now that thrifting is cool,” said Leona Christiansen, who has been thrifting long before it became popular. “Everyone is doing it, thrift stores all packed, and it’s harder.”
“I have been thrifting for decades,” Christiansen said. “My mom and my grandma would garage sale. And then it’s how they would buy our clothes.”
As fast fashion expanded, the inventory inside thrift stores began to change. Cheaper materials and mass production flooded donation racks, making older, higher-quality items harder to find.
“Fast fashion killed thrift,” Christiansen said. “It used to be quality pieces, vintage clothes, natural fibers, but now you’re looking for it in a sea of Shein and plastic polyester.”
Many stores now see shoppers pick through racks for valuable brands to flip online, altering the balance between casual and commercial buyers.
“Another thing that’s kind of killed thrift is resellers,” Christiansen said. “People have eBay stores, and you’re paying a lot more. What I paid a dollar apiece for, a reseller would resell for five or six.”
Teenagers now drive a large share of that growth from the consumer side.
“DePop has gotten super popular, so sometimes it’s harder to find a lot of those good finds,” said Melinda Nelson, a sophomore at Carlmont who has thrifted for two years. “It’s less niche now. It’s because it’s more popularized, there’s less access to the cute clothes because bigger, bigger, like resellers and brands are getting it super early and taking it all for themselves to sell it for more money.”
For younger shoppers, the process of thrifting has become both a pastime and a skill. Many approach the racks with strategies to find what they want before others do.
“Know what you want beforehand,” Nelson said. “Because either you’ll end up with something you don’t want, or you’ll just end up not seeing something that you actually want.”
Inside resale chains, the generational shift is apparent from behind the counter. Stores that once catered to adults are now filled with younger shoppers on weekends.
“Usually on the weekends, we see more high schoolers,” said Madyson Nassar, an employee at San Mateo’s Plato’s Closet. “Throughout the day, you’ll just see college students, it ranges from high school to college students. Sometimes, some parents.”
Inventory patterns often shift with seasons, reflecting both demand and trend cycles.
“Usually it’s whatever is in style or in season,” Nassar said. “Right now it’s fall, so we usually want outerwear and long sleeves.”
For long-time thrifters like Christiansen, the popularity of secondhand shopping is connected to a broader awareness of sustainability and waste reduction.
“I think a lot of it is climate change, and people want to be the difference,” Christiansen said. “It’s one of the few ways you can shop without feeling guilty about waste.”
“You can walk into a store with five dollars and come out feeling like you’ve found treasure,” Christiansen said. “That’s the magic of thrifting, it’s always changing, but it never stops being exciting.”
