Urban Outfitters Joins Resale Marketplace, Launching Nuuly Thrift

Urban Outfitters announced Tuesday it would launch a secondhand apparel and accessories marketplace for consumers to resell their clothes. The new online thrift store, called Nuuly Thrift, is launching in the fall in the form of an iPhone app. Users will be able to post their clothing and accessories from any brand and can choose to get paid directly or through Nuuly Cash, which is worth 10 percent more when they spend it at Nuuly Thrift or any of the URBN stores, which include Anthropologie, Free People, Urban Outfitters, BHLDN, or Terrain.

"Our goal at Nuuly is to build a creative marketplace community — built around a best-in-class technology platform — where customers can be fashion-conscious, eco-conscious and financially conscious, all in one place," said David Hayne, Urban Outfitters' chief technology officer and Nuuly president, in a press release. 

Nuuly Thrift will operate alongside URBN's Nuuly Rent, the subscription rental service for women's apparel.

Total Retail's Take: The secondhand marketplace is quickly growing, and URBN's decision to get into the game will likely make other retailers pay attention. Last month, the online thrift store thredUP purchased European apparel resale company Remix. In addition, thredUP recently partnered with Madewell to launch "Madewell Forever," a new resale platform that allows customers to earn $20 toward a new pair of Madewell jeans when they trade in their pre-worn jeans of any brand.

URBN's new resale platform will encourage consumers to be eco-conscious and reduce their carbon footprint as they shop for gently used clothing. In a report produced earlier this summer, thredUP found that the Gen Z population group was 165 percent more likely than the baby boomer generation to consider the resale value of clothing before buying it. The report also found that more than 540 million apparel items were bought used instead of new in 2020.