Why it matters:
- The U.S. online resale market has grown by 400% since 2020 and is expected to hit $40 billion by 2029, up from $26 billion this year.
- Typically, 50% of resale customers who are new to a brand will become full-price customers within six months.
- Trove helps over 50 global brands manage their resale and returns and has processed over 7 million items since it was founded.
For the past decade, Trove has been a pioneer in what has been dubbed “climate tech”—technology that supports sustainability and reduces environmental impact.
Now, Trove, which creates re-commerce platforms that allow brands to offer their own resale programs, is seeing a growing awareness that resale isn’t just good for the planet, it’s good for the bottom line, too.
“There are definitely some brands that are realizing these economics make a lot more sense than what they’re currently doing. We’re seeing that more and more,” Trove CEO Terry Boyle told CO—.
Trove gives major brands like Patagonia, Michael Kors, and Calvin Klein the ability to manage resale, trade-in, return, and repair programs on their own e-commerce sites.
Brands are discovering resale platforms can generate revenue; let them better control their secondary market; help with repairs, returns, and inventory management; and, most importantly, connect them with valuable new customers.
“We see that anywhere from 50% to 80% of resale customers are new to a brand, and 50% over a course of six months will become a full price customer,” Boyle said.
Trove, which is based in San Francisco, started in 2012 as a tech startup called Yerdle and was rebranded as Trove in 2016. It now has over 50 global brands as its clients.
Over the past year, Trove has added new clients, including furniture retailer Lovesac and premium European travel accessories brand Db.
In April, it expanded its global reach by finalizing the acquisition of reverse.supply, a leader in the European branded resale market.
[Read more: Resale’s Next Big Wave: Execs From ThredUp to Trove on How Tech and Brand Adoption Are Driving Secondhand Retail Boom]
Tapping AI-smart pricing tools to help brands determine viable resale strategies
Trove announced in October that it has partnered with Calvin Klein Inc. and circular logistics company DeBrand to launch Re-Calvin, a take-back program that enables customers to extend the life of their apparel by turning it in to be donated, recycled, or downcycled.
Trove was an early adopter in using AI as a way to optimize resale pricing. Now, it’s using AI-smart pricing tools to help brands make decisions about repairs and returns.
“We’re able to say, ‘Hey if you were to resell this inventory, what would the sell-through look like,’” to allow brands to make better decisions about returns, Boyle said.
It also helps evaluate whether repairs are worthwhile. “We kind of have this AI economic engine that’s like ‘Okay, if you have a handbag and you can take it from a grade C to a grade B, it’s going to be worth X, and here’s what needs to be repaired to make that happen,’” he said. The brand can then decide if repairing and reselling an item makes sense.
Brands are discovering resale platforms can generate revenue; let them better control their secondary market; help with repairs, returns, and inventory management; and, most importantly, connect them with valuable new customers.
[Read more: 3 Consumer Brand Founders and CEOs on Finding Growth in B2B Channels]
Global resale apparel market growing 2.7 times faster than overall apparel sector
Consumer demand for resale has grown dramatically in recent years. According to the 2025 Resale Report by ThredUp, the online consignment and thrift store, the global secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $367 billion by 2029 and is growing 2.7 times faster than the overall apparel market.
The U.S. online resale market, at $26 billion this year, has grown by 400% since 2020, according to the ThredUp report.
U.S. online resale is expected to nearly double by 2029, to $40 billion, with average annual growth of 13%.
Resale and secondhand has grown in terms of consumer acceptance to the point where 50% of holiday shoppers surveyed by Salesforce this year said they are likely to purchase a resale item as a holiday gift.
Resale return-and-repair programs unlock growth for brands
Returns and repairs have been a key growth area for Trove, Boyle said.
“There are a lot of brands for whom we’re processing all of their returns and then figuring out the best way to route imperfect returns,” he said. “It’s allowing them to maximize the value they get out of their reverse logistics.”
A number of brands have added repair options to their resale programs, a trend Boyle expects will continue to grow.
“In Europe, they have the right-to-repair law that’s actually starting to become enforced, so you’re starting to see a lot of interest in repair and warranty programs” in the United States too, he said.
Resale gives new customers access to quality brands at lower prices, and consumers also believe the lower price comes with an added value—that “this brand is environmentally aware and is making this merchandise available instead of destroying it or moving it off to another continent”—while reaping the economic benefits of resale, Boyle said.
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