India’s online thrift stores and their love for luxury brands

Would you like a pair of Jimmy Choos for the same price as a Zara handbag? Or add a ₹80,000 worth Giuseppe Zanotti Peep Toes to your wardrobe for ₹17,000? Or wear Tiffany & Co sunglasses that usually cost ₹25,000 for ₹8,000? And no, you don’t need to scrounge around night markets, or scour the web for first copies. Instead, now experiment with designerwear with a clear concience, via Instagram thrift stores. Globally, the resale market has been growing exponentially. A report by thredUp, one of world’s largest fashion resale platforms, published in 2020, valued the resale market at $28 billion (around ₹2 trillion) in 2019. This is expected to grow to $64 billion by 2024. Though there are no official figures for India, a search for ‘#thriftindia’ on Instagram throws up over 6.25 lakh posts and over 60 handles that deal with thrifting.