Pastel grids, mirror selfies in thrifted cargos, captions that announce “New drop soon” and comments full of “price please!” India’s thrift economy looks less like a clearance rack and more like a curated boutique. In Mumbai, Bandra is full of little shops selling last season’s look for cheap, marketed as vintage. On Bengaluru’s Church Street, the shops are stuffed with preloved Zara tops, Y2K minis and indie tees. Online, sellers orchestrate full-on photoshoots around a single once-used dress, in the hope that it will be bought and used again. This isn’t just resale, it’s reinvention. And India’s preloved businesses are growing up.
“Back in 2020, the term thrifting was almost unheard of in India,” says 28-year-old Kanchan Kathayat, who runs @LadduThrifts on Instagram. “Delhi shoppers went to Sarojini Market and Janpath for cheap fashion, but thrifting was something only international YouTubers raved about.” Kathayat was studying to become a chartered accountant when her family’s finances collapsed. Inspired by the Netflix series Girl Boss, she gave thrifting a try in March 2020. The pandemic was looming. She had zero investment, a borrowed iPad, and a pile of unworn clothes. She made her first sale in Aurangabad at a profit of 200%.
Thrifting took off when we were all locked down at home, confronting our packed closets. By mid-2022, Instagram had about 12.6 million posts tagged #thrift and eight million tagged #thriftshops from India. Now there are close to 400 registered thrifting enterprises, in big cities, as well as Pune, Kolkata and Lucknow. We’ve gone from weekend pop-ups to invite-only communities, swap meets and eagle-eyed teens who can tell the difference between a Gently Used and Fair Condition luxury handbag.
“For the first time ever, the Kala Ghoda Festival had a thrift store this year,” says Stuti Jain, 42, founder of five-year-old Swap Fashions. “Gen Z flocked to us like we were an attraction in ourselves.” Her business started online and they now have a store in Lower Parel. Their clothes are sourced from everywhere: Urban professionals clearing wardrobes, NGO collection drives and designers shutting shop. Prices usually fall between ₹1,000 and ₹6,000, pegged at about 65% to 70% of the original retail price. One could score a Michael Kors dress for as little as ₹6,000.
In the resale business, you’re only as good as your authentication. So, Stuti’s team examines each piece that comes in for condition, quality, tags, stains, wear patterns and sizing label. Next, it’s cleaned, steam-ironed, photographed and displayed online – as good as new. Most pieces are snapped up by members within the weekly WhatsApp drop itself.
The business has its unique strategies to scale up. “We run a swap-back program, in which customers who sell to us earn store credit,” says Stuti. In July, they launched a rent-a-rack model, letting stylists, designers and even individuals temporarily lease space to sell their pre-owned clothes
Kathayat started small, sourcing clothes at Delhi markets. Now, she buys in bulk from garment hubs such as Jaipur, Gujarat, and Bengaluru. A haul can often weigh 80 kilos, so inspection is a long chore. “I segregate by quality: Economy, premium or vintage core,” she says. Prices range from ₹99 for simple tops to ₹1,500 for winter wear and rare vintage finds. Items of poor-quality fabric don’t make it to the display. “Quality builds word of mouth.”
Kathayat spends half her working day dressing up her posts and Reels so the items look covetable. Three curated collections of 15 pieces drop each week, nearly 80% sell out within days. The customers have grown into a community of friends. Kathayat recalls one order, in which a customer paid her an extra ₹300 and asked her to try her favourite drink, a dirty matcha.
Former flight attendant Vijaya Josephine Pais, 44, runs Good Karma Thrift in Goa. She once owned nearly 100 pairs of shoes before moving towards minimalism. She opened her first store inside a café in Anjuna in 2020, and another in Vagator in 2022.
Good Karma works only with second-hand donations. Around 1,000 items (clothes, shoes, books, décor) arrive each month. They’re spruced up and graded by quality. She manages to sell 80% of her stock, sending 25% of proceeds to local non-profits. Events such as barter days and Instagram and WhatsApp broadcasts drive pan-India orders. “It’s not about crazy profit,” Pais says. “One T-shirt takes 2,700 litres of water to make, and a pair of jeans? Nearly 10,000. Once people realise that, they consider thrifting,” she says.
From HT Brunch, October 04, 2025
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