More secondhand shops selling vintage clothing

The number of stores selling secondhand clothing has risen sharply in recent years, according to the Chamber of Commerce (KvK). Noord-Holland has the most secondhand shops of any province, followed by Zuid-Holland. The number of thrift shops that also sell other secondhand goods, however, has declined somewhat.

In 2013, there were 516 stores selling “vintage” clothing. By July of this year, that number had risen to 723, with 155 stores in Noord-Holland and 124 in Zuid-Holland. Flevoland has the fewest, with just five locations.

Meanwhile, the number of thrift shops has been decreasing. The KvK only includes shops that earn less than half of their revenue from selling secondhand clothing in this category. Their number rose from 1,841 in 2013 to 2,063 in 2017, but at the beginning of this year it stood at 1,813.

The trade association Kringloop Nederland describes this as a stabilization. “Our members are often the somewhat larger shops, and we don’t see a decline in the number of their stores,” a spokesperson said. “What we do see is that the shops are getting larger in terms of floor space. There is both plenty of supply and plenty of demand for secondhand goods. Textiles account for a large share of our members’ revenue, on average 28 percent.”

According to the KvK, thrift shops are no longer found only in large buildings on the outskirts of cities but increasingly in prime locations in city centers. In doing so, entrepreneurs are trying to attract a new audience.

One of these entrepreneurs is Fay de Grefte, who opened a secondhand store in Rotterdam city center in collaboration with the secondhand store chain Het Goed, launching the concept Owned By You. “My mission is to give as many textiles as possible a second life. I want to show people who still have a certain image of secondhand goods that it’s fresher and more trendy than they think.”

Marcel van Goch owns seven thrift shops, with clothing playing a central role in all of them. Three years ago, he opened Mode&zo, which sells secondhand women’s clothing, in Dordrecht city center.

Despite the growing popularity of secondhand clothing, Van Goch has noticed a rising problem: fast fashion, often from online stores like Shein and Temu. According to him, the clothing that comes from these sources can hardly be recycled because the quality is so poor.