Gone are the days of simply searching names like “Prada” on resale sites and scrolling away. In 2026, shoppers are getting ultra-specific with their secondhand marketplace searches, a shift that has wider implications for the resale industry. “The hyper-specificity of the way that people search really stands out as a fundamental shift in the way people think about shopping,” says Kristen Naiman, chief brand officer at luxury online resale marketplace The RealReal.
“The fact that people are searching for not just ‘Prada 2010’, but ‘Prada 2010 linen’ or ‘Chanel 2013, look 31’ tells me they have developed both a fluency around style and fashion, as well as an emphasis on singularity and one-of-oneness.”
This was one of the key takeaways of The RealReal’s 2026 resale report, which takes stock of the biggest shifts and developments in the secondhand market.
The root of the shift is two-pronged, Naiman says: people want more unique clothes, and they want to invest in items they can make a return from down the line. Forty-seven percent of shoppers actively evaluate an item’s potential resale value before making a purchase in the primary market. That customers are shopping more intentionally, and with a deeper knowledge base, ups the ante for resale platforms, because it makes curation and establishing a point of view all the more key, Naiman argues.
The market is thus hitting an inflection point:
The market is thus hitting an inflection point: now that secondhand is becoming the norm for many (58% of consumers prefer resale over buying new), the way people are shopping resale has shifted. Beyond the specificity with which people are searching, the repertoire of the items they’re looking for is expanding, too, and the thinking behind a search — and purchase — is more rigorous.
In essence, they’re getting savvy. Vogue Business breaks down the key findings from this year’s resale report, and the implications for the wider resale market. The new vintage
The total demand for vintage on The RealReal (TRR), which it classifies as pieces 15-plus years old, has surged 432% from 2020 to 2026, according to the report. Most notably this year, though, is the shift in demand from ’90s pieces to those from the early aughts.
Searches for the former were up 63% year-on-year, while searches for the latter increased 93%. Meanwhile, searches for specific designers known for leading major labels during the 2000s are also on the rise: “Phoebe Philo Celine” is up 650%, “Nicolas Ghesquière Balenciaga” is up 400%, and “Marc Jacobs Louis Vuitton” is up 375%. The uptick in interest in 2000s-era clothes signals a new phase for resale, one where items from brands like 1996-founded Acne Studios can reach vintage status, now rendering them more of a cult item than a couple of years prior.
There are these cusp-y things that are happening,
“There are these cusp-y things that are happening, like 2000s Acne and Rodarte,” Naiman says. This also means prices are likely to tick up in the coming years. Emerging brands
Emerging brands are growing fast on TRR, and in 2026, demand is far outpacing supply. For Japanese label Ssstein, demand is growing 36x faster than supply, with the former up 361% year-on-year, while supply lags at just 10%.
Demand for Colleen Allen, meanwhile, is growing 1.73x faster than supply, with demand up 289% versus supply at 166%. New York labels Rùadh, Heirlome, and Zankov all boast high “obsession-to-supply” (TRR’s equivalent to likes) ratios. Zankov has a ratio of 175 obsessions per item (11,226 total obsessions versus just 64 items, the latter of which is up 79% year-on-year). “People are learning tons about small, interesting brands early on in their careers through Substack, through TikTok, through different inroads outside the traditional fashion media system,” Naiman says.
That these brands are now part of the resale market — if underrepresented relative to their demand — is a good thing, she adds. Though it might be hard to score a great deal due to the high demand of certain brands (TRR’s algorithms price accordingly), chances are your Colleen Allen resale purchase will still be cheaper than buying new. “Brands like that can attract a lot of customers that maybe aren’t at the place yet in their lives where they’re able to pay the money that is deserved for the craftsmanship, the attention to detail, the small size runs, the quality of the materials,” Naiman says.
There is a way in resale to get
“There is a way in resale to get that stuff a little bit less expensively.”
What goes around comes around
Customers are now shopping with resale value in mind, and The RealReal has introduced technology to help shoppers identify if and when to buy and sell. This year’s resale report made clear the certainty with which customers can make handbag purchases: many of what TRR calls the “future resale stars” (aka bags that are fast gaining popularity) are re-issues of once-popular styles.
The Chanel Cerf, reissued by Matthieu Blazy, is number four of TRR’s top six bags by search volume, with interest up 46% year-on-year, and up 176% between April-June 2026 versus January-March. Saint Laurent’s Y tote also made the cut, at number six, with searches up 5% year-on-year. On the flip side, the Celine Halfmoon, which launched this year, takes spot number three, with interest up 46% year-on-year (the bag debuted in 2025), and up 175% between April-June 2026 versus January-March.
If trends persist, the now-hot Halfmoon is likely to surge down the line. TRR also measured the price difference in resale value for a selection of bags across the last 10 years, including Fendi’s Baguette and the Louis Vuitton Mini Speedy. None have gone down in resale value; many have skyrocketed. “It’s like blue-chip stock,” Naiman says. “None of these bags are worth less than what people paid for them.”
Creative director shifts, as we know well, also play a role.
Blazy’s appointment at Chanel has driven the biggest
Blazy’s appointment at Chanel has driven the biggest impact, with searches for the designer’s collections up 10,967%. Chanel is now the most-searched brand on TRR. And though Celine isn’t in the site’s top 10 most-searched brands list, there were searches specifically for creative director Michael Rider, per the report. A spike in searches for a brand or piece signals a good investment, but be prepared for it to dip at times.
Patience and timing is key. “The new Chanel is hitting a cord culturally. That’s how you know that buying it and allowing it to go through its down cycle will lead to an inevitable upcycle,” Naiman says. “If you hold onto it for five or six years, you might benefit.”
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Source: www.vogue.com
