Your favorite thrift store is headed to Fashion Week

This year, the question some might be asking isn’t what’s new at Fashion Week, but what’s renewed?

With top secondhand platforms such as Goodwill and eBay both headed to New York Fashion Week, thrifting seems to be having a high-fashion moment.

While eBay is coming back with its pre-loved Endless Runway shows this year, both in New York and London, Goodwill has collaborated with designer Evan Hirsch for its NYFW debut, featuring 20 ensembles exclusively created using garments sourced from ShopGoodwill.com and Goodwill stores.

Per George Burt, COO of ShopGoodwill.com, the relationship with Hirsch came about organically, after the designer known for incorporating upcycled fabrics into his designs tagged Goodwill in an Instagram post.

Burt told Retail Brew that Goodwill never intended to bring the designer into a paid relationship, but it was simply just right for both of them.

“An upcycler, somebody that’s creative, somebody that’s fashion forward, or just thinking more about sustainability that has this type of creative angle, can do so much,” he said. “He’s just a perfect example of that.”

While NYFW, a platform that’s traditionally associated with luxury and the advent of the new, might seem like a surprising choice for a thrift store to make an appearance, Burt said it’s just the “right audience.”

“There’s a lot of people that are thinking about sustainability in a different way now than maybe five or 10 years ago, for sure,” he said. “So this is just really the right moment.”

Marisa Ortega, analyst overseeing the US retail and e-commerce reports at Mintel, agreed, adding that Fashion Week acts as a “hub” for designers, buyers, and retailers to collaborate and network.

“Secondhand platforms are using fashion weeks to get exposure, but at the same time promote sustainable fashion practices and in a way, challenge traditional notions of luxury, integrating secondhand clothing into these high fashion events,” she said.

But aside from making important connections and challenging perceptions, for platforms like Goodwill, an additional benefit of the event is being able to connect with a younger generation.

Burt said broadening its audience is an important part of ShopGoodwill’s strategy.

“We have to attract the next generation of buyers,” he said. “At some point, everybody kind of ages out and you have to stay relevant.”

For Gen Z and younger millennial shoppers with luxury shopping aspirations, on the other hand, this offers an opportunity to have access to designer items without typical designer prices.

“We see that with everything that is going on with the high cost of living and uncertainty about tariffs, consumers are increasingly value conscious, so they are seeking accessible entry points into luxury,” Ortega said.

Meanwhile for designers like Hirsch that have partnered with Goodwill, a fringe benefit of joining with a secondhand retailer is that it demonstrates the brand is “forward thinking” and adaptable to a changing industry, per Ortega.

Ultimately, with pre-owned items becoming more of a common sight on runways, it’s likely to set a trend and influence what we might see both within luxury and at Fashion Week. “This market is set for growth, driven by chief consumer values, but also the economic environment that we are living in,” Ortega said.

“[These partnerships] are a way to show that secondhand fashion can coexist with high fashion. It makes it trendy, desirable, and accessible, and that is exactly what consumers want right now: accessibility.”

Burt added that with the “stigma” around thrifted clothing wearing down, it’s only natural that secondhand or vintage fashion has become somewhat cool for younger consumers.

“Our whole lives, we’ve purchased homes that have been resold. We’ve purchased cars that have been resold,” he said. “So it just is natural to purchase other items that have been previously owned.”