How BaseCamp Is Turning the Hot Apparel Resale Market into a Franchise Model

Small business takeaway:

• BaseCamp is proving resale apparel can scale by applying a disciplined franchise model to a hot-but-fragmented secondhand market. Its edge comes from upgrading the customer experience without losing the treasure-hunt thrill at its resale chains Uptown Cheapskate and Kid to Kid; investing ahead in tech and a cross-functional store-opening team; and measuring growth by franchisee performance, not store count.

Save for charity stores like Goodwill and The Salvation Army, secondhand clothing has long been one of retail’s most fragmented categories, a patchwork of independent thrift shops and consignment boutiques with no real dominant national player. 

As the secondhand apparel market in the United States continues to grow at a fast clip—driven in part by rising demand from Gen Z and millennial shoppers for sustainable apparel options—Salt Lake City–based BaseCamp Franchising is hoping to change that. 

Under the leadership of brothers Tyler and Zach Gordon, the company has grown its resale brands, Uptown Cheapskate and Kid to Kid, into a $300 million franchise business, showing that secondhand apparel retail can be standardized, scaled, and profitable. With over 300 stores across 32 U.S. states, plus locations in Portugal and Spain, that are designed to feel more like boutiques than chain stores, the brothers hope to triple their business over the next decade, approaching, if not exceeding, 1,000 stores worldwide.

“There are so many other industries where people trade down out of necessity, but as soon as the economy recovers, they trade back up to whatever they were doing before,” said Tyler Gordon. “You don’t see that with our concepts. With us, trading down might start out of necessity, but then people get hooked—why would I pay three times as much for something identical? If you can offer resale without compromise, you should attract people in a way that grows thrift more broadly. Our concept is resonating.”

The U.S. market for used clothing is projected to hit $78.8 billion by 2030, expanding at roughly 7.3% annually, per ThredUp’s 2026 Resale Report (produced with GlobalData). Separately, the Business of Fashion–McKinsey State of Fashion 2026 report found that almost 60% of consumers worldwide expect to buy secondhand items in 2026.

“It’s a space where there’s so much opportunity, and also a business where you can feel really good about what you’re doing at the end of the day,” said Gordon.

BaseCamp is betting thrift can feel like boutique shopping, not a last resort

When the Gordons acquired a majority stake in teen resale merchant Uptown Cheapskate and secondhand children’s retailer Kid to Kid in 2022 from Founders the Sloan family, their vision was to significantly scale the businesses.

The brothers leaned into the brands’ concept of accepting and selling on-trend secondhand clothing. When customers bring items into Uptown Cheapskate and Kid to Kid to sell that aren’t right for the resale chains, BaseCamp offers customers the option of letting the store donate items to Goodwill. 

“It’s designed around what we think the shopper would want to purchase,” Gordon said. “It’s a curated, deep treasure hunt experience.”

The Gordons bring to BaseCamp corporate strategy and franchise management experience.  Tyler previously served as a Principal in private equity at Apollo Global Management, while Zach was a Senior Director at Restaurant Brands International, the franchisor of Burger King, Tim Hortons, and more. 

One of the brothers’ first orders of business was to tackle a lingering perception among people that secondhand shops are dirty and dusty, he said. By far, the most impactful way to change minds is word-of-mouth marketing, said Gordon. And positive Google reviews help to convert customers into enduring thrift buyers, he said.

“Customers have emotional reactions,” he said. “People almost can’t believe they found what they did and they feel smart because of it. That’s really what drives loyalty.”

[Read more: CO— Trend Watch: Redefining Adulthood, the Rise of Resale, and Video for Brand Growth]

A dedicated launch team has helped BaseCamp boost store performance

The Gordons built out a dedicated, cross-functional team of more than 10 people focused exclusively on opening new stores, pulling together operations, marketing, technology, and finance under one roof. It’s a systematic approach to growth, and the results bear that out: New store performance over the past 18 months has roughly doubled compared to the period before the team was in place. 

“We overhired in terms of qualification for where we wanted to be, not necessarily where we were, making meaningful investments in people,” he said.

Grand opening results have proven to be a near-perfect predictor of how a store will perform in its first year, and the overperformance continues. BaseCamp’s 2025 grand opening results nearly doubled compared to 2024, and 2026 is up from 2025 thus far. The brand’s first Uptown Cheapskate location in the Northeast, which opened in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in March 2026, is already a standout performer, Gordon said.

Total sales across all stores (store count multiplied by average sales per store) were under $200 million when the Gordons took over. That figure surpassed $300 million last year, a 50% increase over three years, and it’s on pace to grow more than 20% again this year.

[Read more: Franchises Leverage Diverse Revenue Streams to Rev Up Sales and Weather Ups and Downs]

Rather than chase store count, BaseCamp is building the systems that make each franchisee more likely to succeed

Helping drive BaseCamp’s success has been a renewed focus on the fundamentals of franchising. Gordon pointed to three core elements: identifying and recruiting the right franchisees, helping them move efficiently from signing to a successful grand opening, and supporting existing franchisees once they’re up and running. 

Too many franchise systems, he said, mistake store count for success, a miscalculation that can be costly for both the franchisor and the franchisee, who’s often staking the biggest financial decision of their life on the venture. For BaseCamp, getting that balance right isn’t just good business, it’s central to the company’s broader ambition of becoming a category-defining name in resale retail.

Meanwhile, rather than relying on a shopkeeper’s gut feel to price a used jacket, BaseCamp equips franchisees with proprietary pricing and point-of-sale technology that takes the guesswork out of resale. Industry coverage has compared its day-to-day operation to a fast-food franchise: prioritizing high volume, tight execution, and consistent systems, even though the stores themselves look and feel like upscale boutiques. 

Last year, BaseCamp opened 20 stores, and it’s on track for 30 more this year. Even as online resale marketplaces like Poshmark and Depop gain traction with consumers, Gordon isn’t worried. “My goal is to make the pie as big as possible,” he said. “For a lot of younger generations, secondhand is now cool—they want to show off their individuality, they want you to ask them where they got this and how much they paid for it so they can tell you $2. I really struggle to see how that trend reverses after you discard the stigma.”

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

CO—is committed to helping you start, run and grow your small business. Learn more about the benefits of small business membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, here.