New Balance kicks off resale program
An athletic footwear giant is the latest entrant into the booming resale market.
New Balance is launching its new resale program, “Reconsidered,” on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Through a dedicated section of the New Balance website, customers can view and shop for pre-owned shoes, including consumer returns and cosmetically imperfect footwear that cannot be sold as new, that have been cleaned as needed.
The program also allows customers to trade in their good-quality worn New Balance shoes via mail or in-store drop-off and receive a voucher on eligible trade-ins to use toward their next purchase on the company’s e-commerce site. Voucher values will be dynamic based on the seasonality and condition of the product traded in.
New Balance supports Reconsidered customer experience and fulfillment with the Archive technology platform for branded resale. The company performs product cleaning, fulfillment, and warehousing with Tersus Solutions waterless cleaning technology and suite of textile reclamation applications. for apparel and footwear.
In addition to offering Reconsidered online, New Balance will pilot an in-store trade-in program at eight retail locations before scaling into more U.S. stores later this year.
"We know the footwear industry has a significant environmental impact, including too many products ending up in a landfill," said John Stokes, director of sustainability at New Balance. "There are many things that have to shift. Launching Reconsidered is one piece of the puzzle with a program objective to help extend product life for some of our product and get the most from what is already made."
In addition to focusing on longevity and circularity of products, New Balance is also pursuing its release program as part of a larger set of sustainability goals. The company is committed to achieving approved 1.5°C-aligned emissions reduction goals through the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi); sourcing 100% renewable electricity for owned operations by 2025; continuing to source lower-impact materials; transitioning to lower carbon transportation; and engaging with governments to help enact better climate policy.
Resale is big business
Two recent studies indicate the resale market is generating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue – and growing. According to the 2023 Recommerce Report from mobile secondhand marketplace OfferUp, the secondhand market is projected to reach $188.5 billion by the end of 2023 and $276 billion by the end of 2028, representing a 58% growth rate, outpacing the overall retail market by 4.4%.
By 2028, OfferUp projects secondhand will account for 8% of the total retail market, reflecting a 2% increase compared to 2023. The 2023 Reuse Report from online secondhand marketplace Mercari is even more bullish, predicting the resale market is expected to grow by an estimated 87% to $325 billion by 2031 from $174.1 billion in 2022.
Headquartered in Boston, New Balance owns five factories in New England and one in Flimby, U.K., employing 8,000 associates around the globe with 2022 reported worldwide sales of $5.3 billion.