Does Reselling Your Clothes Actually Help the Planet?
Inside Lululemon's resale expansion to Canada, and what the data says about buying secondhand
Key takeaway: Yes — reselling clothes measurably helps, and Lululemon's August 17, 2026 expansion of its Like New resale program into Canada is proof of the momentum behind it. Secondhand apparel is projected to hit $78.8 billion in the U.S. and $393 billion globally by 2030, with Gen Z and millennials driving…
By Dear Sarah · · Updated
Key takeaways
- Lululemon expanded its peer-to-peer resale platform, Like New, into Canada on August 17, 2026, in partnership with resale-tech company Archive.
- A two-week mail-in trade-in event for Lululemon items runs September 14 through 21, 2026.
- Archive CEO Emily Gittins has said resale does not cannibalize full-price sales, easing a common concern among brands.
- ThredUp's 2026 Resale Report projects the U.S. secondhand apparel market to reach $78.8 billion by 2030, with the global market reaching $393 billion.
- Gen Z and millennials are expected to drive more than 70% of resale market growth through 2030.
Yes — reselling your clothes genuinely helps, and the data backs it up. Lululemon just expanded its peer-to-peer resale platform, Like New, into Canada on August 17, giving old leggings a real second life instead of a spot in a landfill. It's part of a bigger shift: secondhand apparel is growing nearly four times faster than new clothing sales right now, and it's mostly women in their teens, twenties, and thirties driving that change.
What just happened with Lululemon's resale program?
On August 17, 2026, Lululemon brought Like New to Canada, letting shoppers buy and sell gently used Lululemon pieces directly with each other on a fully branded, bilingual marketplace. It's powered by Archive, a resale-tech company that already runs similar programs for brands like New Balance and The North Face. Starting September 14, there's also a two-week mail-in trade-in event, so if a hoodie has been sitting in your closet since 2023, you can send it in for credit instead of letting it collect dust.
"Like New extends the life of that product, giving guests a trusted way to keep great gear in use while discovering lululemon in a new way," said Maureen Erickson, Lululemon's SVP of Retail Experience. Archive's co-founder and CEO, Emily Gittins, put it simply: "Bringing the program to Canada reflects strong momentum and opens a new source of second-hand supply to meet growing demand."
Gittins has been saying some version of this for a while. She's also pushed back on one of the biggest fears brands have about resale — that it'll cannibalize new sales. "We've debunked the concern that resale cannibalizes full-price sales," she told TechCrunch after Archive raised $30 million to keep building resale infrastructure for more than 50 brands. Letting people buy a brand secondhand doesn't scare them off buying it new later. It tends to build trust instead.
Why this actually matters for you
Here's the part that's easy to miss in a headline about one brand's resale platform: this is a trend line, not a one-off. According to ThredUp's 2026 Resale Report, the U.S. secondhand apparel market is projected to hit $78.8 billion by 2030, and globally it could reach $393 billion — nearly double the growth rate of the overall apparel industry. And the people fueling that growth are, overwhelmingly, us. Gen Z and millennials are expected to drive more than 70% of all resale market growth through 2030.
That's not a coincidence. If you've ever felt weird about how fast trends cycle now, or noticed your feed pushing a "new drop" every other day, you're not imagining the pressure. The fashion industry runs on overproduction, and buying into ethical fashion doesn't have to mean buying more — sometimes the most ethical move is simply not buying new at all. And if you've wondered whether AI can even tell you which brands are actually sustainable, the resale tag on an item is a much simpler signal than any algorithm will give you.
One thing to try today
Open your closet and pull one item you haven't worn in a year, something still in decent shape. Check whether the brand has a resale or trade-in program — a lot of them do now, quietly: Lululemon, Patagonia, Eileen Fisher, REI. List it or trade it in instead of letting it sit. It takes ten minutes, and it's a small, real dent in the roughly 92 million tons of textile waste the world produces every year.
This isn't about swearing off new clothes forever, the way the growth-versus-values debate around Reformation's IPO got people arguing about whether a sustainable brand can scale without losing itself. It's simpler than that. It's about treating what's already in your closet like it's worth something, because it is.
Quote to sit with
"The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life." — Marie Kondo
💌 Sarah
Frequently asked questions
Does selling or reselling my old clothes actually help the environment?
Yes. The world produces roughly 92 million tons of textile waste a year, and clothing that gets resold or worn longer is clothing that doesn't add to it. Resale keeps a garment in circulation instead of fueling demand for new production, which is where most of fashion's carbon and water footprint comes from.
How does Lululemon's Like New resale program work in Canada?
Shoppers can buy and sell gently used Lululemon pieces directly with each other on a fully branded, bilingual marketplace that launched August 17, 2026. There's also a mail-in trade-in event running September 14 through 21, where you can send in eligible pre-owned items for purchase credit.
Does clothing resale actually hurt sales of new items?
Archive CEO Emily Gittins says no. She's stated publicly that resale doesn't cannibalize full-price sales, and brands like New Balance and The North Face have kept scaling their resale programs alongside regular retail. It tends to build trust and repeat customers rather than pull business away.
Who's actually buying secondhand clothes right now?
Mostly Gen Z and millennials. ThredUp's 2026 Resale Report projects those two generations will drive more than 70% of the resale market's growth through 2030, and the global secondhand market is expected to grow nearly twice as fast as new apparel by then.
What's an easy first step if I want to start reselling my clothes?
Check whether a brand you already own has a resale or trade-in program. Lululemon, Patagonia, Eileen Fisher, and REI all run one. Pull one item you haven't worn in a year, list it or trade it in, and let it go to someone who'll actually wear it.
Sources
- Lululemon Like New Resale Program Expands to Canada — Retail Insider
- Archive raises $30M to solve fashion's pollution problem with online resales — TechCrunch
- US resale market expected to surpass $78B by 2030 — Retail Dive
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