– About a third of my clothes are bought second-hand. It’s cheap and then I find cool stuff. That’s what 18-year-old Isak says, whom we meet at a shopping center in Arendal. The physical clothing stores here are not visited very often. Buying used clothes online, on the other hand, is a growing trend. – I look for specific things and often find more exciting clothes on Tise, Snap and Finn.no than I do in the shops. And it is environmentally friendly. Isak (18) from Arendal buys a lot of used clothes online. Photo: Espen Bierud / news – Significant increase The trend of buying used clothes online is only growing and growing. This is confirmed by Kathrine Opshaug Bakke, who is a second-hand market expert at Finn.no. – We have seen a clear increase every year for many years now, even after the pandemic has calmed down. Last year, 1.9 million new ads were published with us in the “clothing and accessories” category. For many years, women have taken the lead in the field, says Opshaug Bakke. But now you see that boys and men are also coming quickly. – Searches, traffic and the number of advertisements in the “men’s clothing” category have grown by 17 per cent in just one year. Finn.no is experiencing an increase in sales of men’s clothing. Photo: finn.no Not embarrassing, no… Young people we meet on the streets in Arendal confirm that used clothes have become “in”. But they have different explanations as to why. – New clothes are an environmental disaster. This is much more sustainable, says Merete Vehus Karlsen – I don’t do much with it myself, since my little brother gets a lot of my laundry. But buying and selling used clothes is very common and accepted among my friends, says Bendik Hagane. – The reason why I often buy used clothes online is that it is cheap, says Charles William. Increase across the board There are many marketplaces for used clothing. No one has a complete overview. Second-hand shops, Facebook groups, swap nights and private trade are just some of the channels for buying and selling. The company Tise is a reuse app, which has grown and gained many new users. Especially among young people. Buying used clothes online, is it good or bad? They have grown in size in recent years and have a main focus on second-hand clothes. In recent years, the boys have woken up, says market coordinator Selma Haaland in Tise. – We have had an almost 350 percent increase in male users from 2020 to 2023. It’s fun. We see a doubling of female users from January 2021 to January 2023 and for guys there are 2.5 times more users now than in January 2021. – Why has second-hand clothes become so popular? – There are several reasons. Influencers have gone ahead and shown the way. And this is undeniably environmentally friendly. And that’s what young people care about. It is also the opportunity for many to buy their “dream garment”. Selma Haaland is marketing coordinator in Tise. They see a huge increase in sales of used men’s clothing. Photo: Tise Almost only soft packages In the back room of the post-in-store branch of Joker on Hisøy outside Arendal, there are rows of soft packages. General manager Harald Hansen says that up to a hundred consignments of cloth can quickly go out in a day. – Look here! There are almost only soft packages. We have been in the mail-in-shop business for 20 years and the clothes are just increasing and increasing. New clothes are still big, but the more “homemade, soft packages are becoming more common on the post office shelves. General manager Harald Hansen at Joker Hisør says that they receive many packages of clothes for the store. Photo: Espen Bierud / news
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