The Evolution of Fashion Resale and Retail
Summer 2025
Style in Motion: The Evolution of Resale and Retail explores how secondhand retail, digital tools, and adaptive systems are reshaping the business of fashion. From reviving classic collections like GapVintage to concepting new fashion on AI-driven platforms like Mercer and Heuritech, brands are now designing with reuse, transparency, and cultural resonance in mind. Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers lead this shift, valuing storytelling, ethics, and responsiveness to trends over legacy labels. Resale has become a branded experience enhanced by digital IDs and circular design. With personalized production, dupe culture insights, and fan-led loyalty, fashion operates as a responsive ecosystem. The report offers key actions for brands to embed resale into development and strategy, elevate in-store experiences, and build consumer connections through transparency and innovation.
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SCADask generates timely research at the intersection of commerce, creativity, and culture. With a purpose of educating the public with new insights on trending topics as well as elevating SCAD as the preeminent source of knowledge in the disciplines we teach, SCADask equips external partners to address a wide range of emergent business opportunities. Under the supervision of qualified university leaders, SCADask identifies, formulates, and tackles research questions that are relevant to SCAD disciplines and appealing to a general interest audience. The qualitative and quantitative results and strategic insights produced from SCADask research synthesize existing knowledge from SCAD programs and new research assignments with external partners.
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