In a world dominated by quick style giants, the place $10 sneakers and viral “hauls” fill social feeds, the resale motion is gaining traction on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers from each events are coming collectively to advertise a extra sustainable, round strategy to buying—one that might reshape the American retail panorama and assist the planet within the course of.
Representatives Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D., Calif.) and Nicole Malliotakis (R., N.Y.) are formally launching the bipartisan Recommerce Caucus. Their mission: to advertise the rising recommerce financial system.
Becoming a member of Kamlager-Dove and Malliotakis are representatives Kevin Mullin (D., Calif.), Hillary Scholten (D., Mich.), and Brittany Pettersen (D., Colo.), forming a coalition that goals to:
Lengthen the life cycle of merchandise
Scale back landfill waste
Encourage environmentally accountable commerce
Assist small sellers and entrepreneurs on digital platforms
Promote entry to widespread resale apps
Tax Reduction and Round Enterprise Incentives
Kamlager-Dove is especially targeted on decreasing gross sales tax for secondhand objects and providing tax credit to firms that undertake round enterprise fashions. “Why not do one thing that’s good for style, good for the financial system and good for the atmosphere?” she asks—a sentiment that resonates with each eco-conscious customers and small enterprise homeowners.
Malliotakis, in the meantime, highlights the necessity to minimize purple tape for small companies and resellers, tackle counterfeiting, and cut back waste. “It’s sustainable, it helps the atmosphere, there’s much less trash and also you make someone else blissful,” she explains.
Why Now?
This legislative push comes at a time when tariffs on imported items are disrupting provide chains and driving up prices for retailers and customers alike. Because of this, American customers are considering extra critically about the place their items come from and the way a lot they’re prepared to pay for brand new versus secondhand objects.
A current report discovered that 54% of retail executives see resale as a extra secure supply of clothes amid tariff turmoil. Rachel Kibbe, CEO of American Round Textiles, notes, “At a time when customers are price-sensitive and searching for extra reasonably priced, sustainable choices, recommerce provides essential entry—not solely to earnings, however to high quality items at decrease prices”.
Sustainability By way of Secondhand
U.S. landfills are full of discarded clothes, which, because it breaks down, releases greenhouse gases and poisonous “endlessly chemical substances.” The carbon footprint of manufacturing new clothes—from sourcing supplies to manufacturing and world transport—is even larger.
Consultants estimate that if each secondhand merchandise bought changed the necessity for a brand new one, it might cut back total manufacturing by practically 8% by 2027 and minimize annual carbon emissions by 15-16% by 2040. Every reused garment can add 2.2 years to its life and cut back water, carbon, and waste footprints by as a lot as 73% in comparison with producing new clothes.
“At the moment now we have sufficient clothes on the planet to dress the subsequent six generations of people with out making something extra,” says Rachel Mednick, a sustainable style educator. The problem is making it simpler for firms to supply pure fibers and shift their provide chains—a course of that takes time and assets.
The Booming Enterprise of Secondhand
Secondhand buying isn’t simply environmentally sensible—it’s additionally turn out to be a cultural phenomenon, particularly amongst Gen Z and Millennials. Youthful customers are searching for out resale apps and thrift shops in the hunt for distinctive, reasonably priced, and sustainable finds. Based on a current survey, 71% of customers aged 25-34 purchased “pre-loved items” prior to now 12 months.
The resale sector is booming:
Projected to achieve $1.04 trillion globally by 2035, up from $186 billion final 12 months
Rising 12–15% yearly, outpacing conventional retail
Luxurious resale can also be surging, with 27% of on-line luxurious attire spending now taking place on resale platforms
Discovering Worth in Sustainability
For a lot of, recommerce is about extra than simply saving cash or the atmosphere—it’s about creativity, entrepreneurship, and constructing neighborhood. As Congress turns its consideration to the recommerce financial system, the hope is that new insurance policies will empower small companies, cut back environmental impression, and provides customers extra sustainable selections—proving that style, the financial system, and the atmosphere don’t should be at odds.
Because the main B2B recommerce platform, B-Inventory stands behind Congress and the trade leaders who’re advocating for this recommerce motion. We’d additionally prefer to acknowledge and thank the retailers, manufacturers, and small companies who’re leveraging our platform to promote and purchase returned, extra, and trade-in stock. Each transaction on B-Inventory helps prolong product lifecycles, cut back landfill waste, and advance sustainability targets which are more and more valued by customers, companies, and policymakers alike.
Wish to perceive the present B2B recommerce panorama? Obtain B-Inventory’s report, The State of the B2B Recommerce Market- 2025.
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