Getting Outside Is Getting Expensive — and the Secondhand Market Is Filling the Gap
There was a time not long ago when outfitting yourself for a serious backcountry trip meant either a patient accumulation of gear over several seasons or a single, gut-punch credit card statement. That hasn't changed. What has changed is where more and more people are choosing to shop before they ever set foot on trail. The used outdoor gear market — once the humble domain of ski swaps, dusty garage sales, and hand-me-down sleeping bags from a cousin who moved to Denver — has quietly grown into one of the most significant forces reshaping outdoor retail in America.
Buying used outdoor equipment isn't new — ski swaps, garage sales, and hand-me-down camping gear have been part of outdoor culture for generations. But the scale, the organization, and the sheer dollar volume attached to today's recommerce market represent something categorically different from anything the industry has seen before. This is no longer a niche lane for broke college kids or gear hoarders looking to unload a closet full of old softshells. The outdoor resale market is rapidly becoming a core part of the industry, driven by affordability, economic pressure, and growing demand for secondhand gear from retailers, brands, and consumers alike.
The Numbers Behind the Shift
If you want to understand how serious this has gotten, start with the data. According to ThredUp's 2025 Resale Report, conducted with retail analytics firm GlobalData, the U.S. secondhand apparel market grew 14 percent in 2024, five times faster than the broader retail clothing market. The report projects that the secondhand apparel market will reach $74 billion by 2029. Online apparel resale grew even faster, increasing 23 percent in 2024, with projections that it could reach $40 billion by 2029.
The National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops estimates the U.S. resale market at $56 billion in 2025, with a projected worth of $74 billion by 2029. Zoom out further to the overall outdoor gear sector and the growth picture only intensifies. The outdoor gear market size is estimated at $73 billion in 2026 and is expected to rise to $125 billion by 2035, experiencing a CAGR of 6.1%. Within that broader market, the resale slice is outpacing new-goods growth by a significant margin. The second-hand outdoor gear market is expanding rapidly — in 2023, the resale market for outdoor equipment grew by 20%, driven by environmentally conscious consumers seeking sustainable and affordable options, with platforms facilitating peer-to-peer sales contributing heavily to that growth.
The individual platform numbers are just as striking. GearTrade saw 80 percent growth in 2024 for outdoor gear. That's not a rounding error — that's a fundamental change in buying behavior. As brick-and-mortar stores benefit from the resale boom, online sellers account for the fastest growth in the used-goods market. According to the ThredUp 2025 Resale Report, online sellers are expected to account for half of all secondhand spending in the U.S. market by 2026.
What's Actually Driving This
The Price Wall
Ask anyone who has priced out a full kit for a first backpacking trip recently, and the sticker shock tends to register on their face before they finish explaining the question. A Patagonia Torrentshell 3L rain jacket alone can set you back more than $150. Add an Osprey backpack, Merrell hiking boots, a sleeping bag, and a lightweight tent, and you could easily spend more than $1,000 on equipment before you even reach the trailhead. And that's for an entry-level setup with mid-tier brands. Step up to technical performance gear and those numbers climb fast. If you're gearing up for ski season, an Arc'teryx Sabre GORE-TEX ski jacket alone runs about $750 new.
This isn't just anecdotal. Over the past few years, outdoor gear prices have increased around 20 percent, according to former Moosejaw CEO and consultant Eoin Comerford. With new trade policies on the horizon, that number is likely to increase. The Outdoor Industry Association has acknowledged as much in its own outlook. It's likely that rising prices will push more consumers toward secondhand platforms, whether that's peer-to-peer marketplaces, local consignment, or white-label resale programs.
For someone who only hikes, camps, or skis a handful of times each season, investing hundreds or even thousands of dollars in brand-new equipment may be harder to justify, making the secondhand market an increasingly attractive alternative. That calculus hits especially hard for people just entering the sport — the exact demographic the outdoor industry claims it wants to grow.
The Tariff Effect
Trade policy has added another layer of pressure to an already-expensive retail environment. Fifty-nine percent of consumers say that if new government policies around tariffs and trade make apparel more expensive, they will seek more affordable options like secondhand. For brands that rely heavily on overseas manufacturing — which includes nearly the entire outdoor gear supply chain — tariff disruptions aren't a future risk. They're a present reality, and the ripple effects are already reaching consumers. When a tent or a technical fleece becomes 15 to 25 percent more expensive because of import duties, the secondhand equivalent of that same product becomes dramatically more appealing.
The Discount Habit
There's a subtler dynamic working beneath the surface here too, one that the outdoor retail industry hasn't been eager to discuss. Unit sales have plateaued, and the post-COVID discount cycle — with prevalent blanket promotions and endless markdowns — has trained customers to wait for the next deal. This undermines specialty retail, devalues premium products, and creates a dangerous dependence on discounting to move inventory. Shoppers who have spent years hunting REI sales and watching Steep & Cheap for deep discounts are psychologically primed to seek out the best possible value on premium gear. The secondhand market is simply the next logical step in that progression — and it often delivers.
Consumer Values Are Changing
An eBay 2025 Recommerce Report showed that 81 percent of its customers were motivated by cost savings, while 68 percent felt good about "giving items a second life." That combination — hard economic motivation paired with a sense of doing the right thing — is a particularly powerful commercial force. The outdoor community has long prided itself on environmental stewardship, and buying used is an easy way to live out those values without sacrificing access to quality equipment.
The History: From Wilderness Exchange to White-Label Resale
The practice of selling used gear and apparel is not new to the outdoor industry. Pioneers like Wilderness Exchange in Berkeley, CA, were selling secondhand products as far back as 1987. For decades, the movement remained niche, as a handful of additional secondhand shops opened and traditional retailers added small consignment sections. The culture around gear trading has always existed at the margins of outdoor recreation — at trailhead bulletin boards, in college outdoor clubs, at the seasonal ski swaps that drew families to high school gymnasiums every October.
What's different now is the infrastructure. What's changing is how shop owners are more organized, making outdoor gear more accessible at scale. The internet turned a local, informal network into a national marketplace. Platforms purpose-built for outdoor gear emerged, and then the brands themselves got involved — which changed everything.
The Brands Move In
When major outdoor brands started building their own resale infrastructure, it sent a signal to the entire market: this is no longer a fringe channel. In recent years, no small number of major outdoor brands have launched their own in-house platforms for buying back and reselling used gear. The most robust is Patagonia Worn Wear, followed by Arc'teryx ReBird and The North Face Renewed.
Patagonia — a pioneer in product recycling — offers the Worn Wear program, which enables customers to mail in used clothing and gear and receive a credit worth approximately 20% of each item's suggested retail price. Patagonia offers an in-house market selling outdoor clothes and backpacks that have been repaired from the "Seconds collection" or remade entirely using old clothes for the "Recrafted collection." For a brand that has built its entire identity around environmental responsibility, Worn Wear isn't just a sales channel — it's a philosophical statement made commercially viable.
Arc'teryx, whose technical shells and hardshell jackets routinely run north of $500 new, has developed its ReGear program to capture a market of buyers who want the brand's performance without the flagship-store price tag. Arc'teryx's ReGear program offers steep discounts on some of the industry's most popular styles. Brands like The North Face, Arc'teryx, and Fjallraven offer programs like Renewed and ReGEAR, providing refurbished and discounted outdoor gear.
REI Co-op has sold used gear in some capacity for over six decades, but in recent years, the company has ramped up its secondhand offerings with more involved in-store used gear sections and an online storefront dubbed Re/Supply. Because of the retail giant's large footprint and general head start on selling outdoor goods, it offers arguably the largest selection of used gear at a range of price points. The REI model is particularly interesting because it integrates resale directly into the flagship retail experience rather than siloing it off as a discount afterthought.
Some brands have already invested in resale infrastructure, largely in the name of sustainability. But 2025 might be the year where circularity becomes a core part of more business strategies. The competitive pressure is real — once a few major players build out recommerce infrastructure, the brands that haven't done so start to look like they're leaving money on the table.
Inside the Stores: What's Happening on the Ground
A quieter shift is happening inside brick-and-mortar stores across the country. In mountain towns, outdoor recreation hubs, and neighborhoods where adventure is part of everyday life, secondhand gear shops are finding a growing audience. The consignment section that once lived in the back corner of a shop, awkwardly wedged between closeout bins and the rental counter, is increasingly moving to the front of the store.
The results are showing up in individual shop financials. Jason Miller, co-owner of 3 Rivers Outdoor Company in Pittsburgh, says: "We've definitely seen an uptick in sales. Our consignment area is as stocked as it's ever been." According to Miller, the store has offered consignment items since 2018, and used goods now account for 20% of sales. That's not a rounding error in a business's revenue mix — that's a structural shift in how the shop operates.
Not everyone shopping secondhand is pinching pennies, either. "Now you're starting to see the guy that shows up with a Land Rover and doesn't want to pay $400 for a jacket," says Alejandro Guanaga, owner of Outdoor Gear Revival, a Knoxville, TN, store that primarily sells consignment goods. The stigma that once attached to buying used — the implication that you couldn't afford new — has largely evaporated. Buying secondhand has become as much about savvy shopping as financial necessity.
The thrift and vintage angle is playing a role too. The resale business is tapping into the growing trend of thrifting, where shoppers — especially young people — seek out unique or rare pieces from the past. "Customers love the vintage stuff," says Guanaga. "They'll find a purple 1980s Patagonia piece or old-school stuff from The North Face." Gorpcore aesthetics drove a wave of interest in vintage outdoor apparel that still hasn't fully receded, and brick-and-mortar consignment shops have benefited directly from that cultural moment.
The Online Platforms: Where the Real Volume Lives
For raw transaction volume and the widest selection of gear, online platforms have become the dominant channel in the secondhand outdoor market. There could be more than 18,000 listings waiting for a buyer on any given platform — a lot of choices for equipment that may have already spent a few nights under the stars.
GearTrade, based in Utah and acquired by outdoor industry veteran Aaron Provine in 2019, has been one of the most watched stories in the recommerce space. Provine spent more than 12 years working for online outdoor retailer Backcountry.com before acquiring GearTrade. After a website and business strategy overhaul, the online secondhand retail platform has seen sales surpassing records year over year. Geartrade offers a huge selection from top brands across every sport, with quality control on safety equipment — for example, no alpine ski bindings or helmets over five years old are allowed to be sold.
Secondhand's portion of all retail sales is projected to approach 8 percent, growing by 34 percent by 2030 to reach $306.5 billion. That's the macro environment these platforms are operating in — and it explains why eBay Ventures took a stake in SidelineSwap, a platform focused on sports gear that counts 2 million participants.
What to Buy Used — and What to Leave on the Rack
The Smart Categories
Not all outdoor gear ages the same way, and the smartest secondhand shoppers know which categories offer the best value and which carry hidden risks. For apparel — fleeces, softshells, base layers, rain jackets, ski pants — the used market is generally excellent. From lightly worn hiking boots and technical jackets to mountain bikes, skis, and camping equipment, previously owned gear is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative to buying new. Tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, trekking poles, and ski hardware (bindings excluded for safety reasons) are all categories where the value proposition on used is compelling.
The gear on some brands' resale sites — think The North Face Renewed, Patagonia Worn Wear, and REI's used section — has been thoroughly inspected or even repaired beforehand. For technical items where fit and performance matter, buying through one of these vetted programs offers a meaningful layer of protection that peer-to-peer marketplaces simply don't provide.
What You Should Never Buy Used
The used outdoor gear market has a hard line that every serious buyer needs to understand: some safety-critical equipment should never be purchased secondhand under any circumstances. As one industry expert puts it: "You should never, ever, ever buy a used helmet, because you don't know what it's been through. Helmets have a pretty short life span, even if they just sit in a box in the dark." That's not overcaution — helmets absorb impact energy in ways that aren't visible to the naked eye. A helmet that took a hard hit looks identical to one that never touched anything.
With climbing gear specifically, stay away from soft goods. Ropes, harnesses, and slings have rated life spans that depend entirely on their loading history and UV exposure — information that no secondhand seller can fully provide. The Geartrade platform bars several categories from resale, including climbing harnesses — a policy that reflects industry-wide safety consensus rather than arbitrary caution.
How to Inspect Before You Commit
Whether shopping in-store or online, the inspection protocol matters. Check the uppers and treads of hiking boots and road and trail runners, as they tend to clearly show wear and tear. A midsole that has fully compressed and a blown-out tread pattern means the boot is effectively spent, regardless of how good the upper looks.
If an item reeks enough to keep you from putting your face near it, you shouldn't be buying it. And your nose can help catch the telltale whiff of mildew, which is game over for most waterproof gear — it can weaken fabrics and leave nasty stains. For any item with a DWR (Durable Water Repellent) coating, check whether the coating is still functional — you can tell by splashing water on the fabric and watching whether it beads up or soaks in. A dead DWR coating on a shell jacket is fixable with a wash-in treatment, but it's worth knowing before you pay.
It's always best to see and touch gear before buying. When that isn't possible, the safest entry point into the recommerce world comes from brands themselves. Programs like REI Re/Supply, Patagonia Worn Wear, Arc'teryx ReGEAR, and The North Face Renewed offer certified refurbishment, professional inspection, and limited warranties. For anything purchased through unstructured peer-to-peer channels, Facebook Marketplace, Reddit, and Craigslist offer zero structural buyer protection — "caveat emptor" is the only law.
The Savings Are Real — If You Know Where to Look
The discount ranges across platforms vary significantly, and understanding those ranges helps set expectations. REI Used Gear offers savings up to 50%; GearTrade can deliver savings of up to 70%; and Patagonia Worn Wear typically runs 20 to 40% below retail. REI's periodic physical garage sales — the in-person events that generate lines out the door in cities like Seattle and Portland — are a different animal entirely, with some items going for up to 90% off original retail. The catch is that those events are final sale, no exceptions.
REI lists any faults or flaws in items on the website so there are no surprises. Used items run approximately 50% below the regular price, depending on condition. For the buyer trying to put together a capable kit without a $1,500 bill, that kind of transparency is as valuable as the discount itself.
What This Means for the Industry's Future
The growth of recommerce in the outdoor space isn't just a consumer trend to be tracked in spreadsheets — it's a structural shift with significant implications for how the outdoor industry operates, grows, and reaches new participants. For the outdoor industry, it signals something bigger: a changing relationship between consumers, their equipment, and the cost of getting outside. As outdoor gear prices continue to climb, consignment shops may be playing an increasingly important role in keeping recreation accessible.
The Outdoor Industry Association has noted that the latest Outdoor Retail Trends Report shows a market in transition. Participation is at an all-time high, retail dollars are moving, and outdoor gear has officially crossed over into the fashion and lifestyle world. But participation numbers at all-time highs don't mean much if new participants can't afford to gear up. The secondhand market is functionally serving as an accessibility ramp into outdoor recreation — letting first-timers take the plunge without committing $1,000 or more to a sport they might not stick with, and letting experienced adventurers upgrade their kit at a fraction of the cost by trading in what they've outgrown.
As one industry analyst put it: "Resale continues to outpace the broader retail sector, with online resale in particular driving the sector's growth. Shoppers are prioritizing quality as resale value becomes an increasingly important factor in purchasing decisions, and retailers are evolving their secondhand offerings to meet consumer demand with new avenues like social commerce, further driving adoption and preference for secondhand."
That last point is worth sitting with. When resale value becomes a factor in the original purchase decision — when someone buys a new Arc'teryx shell partly because they know they can sell it on ReGear in three years for 60 cents on the dollar — the secondhand market stops being an afterthought and starts shaping the front end of consumer behavior. Premium outdoor gear, already positioned as a durable investment, gains another layer of financial logic when there's a functioning resale ecosystem to back it up.
That dynamic is playing out across more product categories, thanks to inflation, tariffs, and shifting consumer sentiment. According to the OfferUp 2025 Recommerce Report, 75% of resale is not in fashion — meaning the bulk of what's moving through these channels is functional goods, tools, equipment. Outdoor gear sits squarely in that majority.
The Bottom Line for Anyone Heading Outside
The surge in secondhand outdoor gear purchasing is ultimately about access. The mountains, rivers, and trails haven't gotten cheaper to reach, and the gear required to do it safely and comfortably certainly hasn't. But the ecosystem around buying that gear has shifted in ways that genuinely benefit the person who knows how to navigate it. A well-maintained Gore-Tex shell purchased through a vetted resale program performs exactly the same on a ridge in a November storm as one bought off the rack at full price. The rocks don't care what you paid.
What matters is that the gear is in sound condition, appropriate for the objective, and acquired from a source that gave you enough information to make that judgment. The recommerce infrastructure that has built up around outdoor gear — from brand-managed programs at Patagonia, Arc'teryx, and The North Face, to purpose-built platforms like GearTrade, to the growing network of consignment shops in mountain towns across the country — has made that possible at a scale that simply didn't exist a decade ago. The price of adventure hasn't dropped. But more people are finding smarter ways to pay it.
