The largest fashion company in Spain and a pioneer on the global stage has quietly expanded its second-hand initiative. After a year of operation in the United Kingdom and several months in France, Inditex has launched Zara Second Hand in 14 countries, including Spain, opening doors on Tuesday, December 12. This platform is designed to simplify reuse for customers by enabling the sale and purchase of pre loved Zara items. It features options to request repairs, request forgiveness for certain items, and to resell directly to other shoppers, in addition to buying items secondhand from others.
“One major challenge in fashion is extending the life of clothing”, explains the UK edition of Zara. “Second Hand is built with that in mind, a platform to help customers keep garments in use longer.” The statement positions the project as part of a broader move toward circularity that spans from product design to logistics and retail spaces.
Indeed, Spain still has ground to cover in textile recycling compared with other nations. European Commission data cited by Modaes show that Spain ranks as the fourth-largest producer of textile waste yet the fifteenth in terms of collection rates. Despite this, consumer interest in resale is rising, and three of Spain’s five leading fashion brands already offer comparable programs: Zara, Zalando and H M. A fourth player, Shein, is expected to join soon.
Best selling brands
The success of these brands is measured by a ranking compiled through collaboration among IESE Business School, Fintonic and Purpose Headquarterschains, focusing on 2022 sales volumes. Zara leads the list, followed by Primark, Shein, Zalando and H M. Stradivarius, Pull& Bear, Lefties, Bershka and Springfield also appear in the upper tier, with Mango, Massimo Dutti, Kiabi, Nike and Cortefiel trailing behind. Among the top 15, only five have active second-hand experiences, and three of those sit in the top five.
Inditex is advancing into the second-hand market with Zara Second Hand, officially launched this week after testing in two initial markets. The platform now operates in Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal. None of the other brands from Inditex, including Stradivarius, Pull& Bear, Lefties or Bershka, currently offer a similar program.
Primark ranks second in Spain’s sales and is the only one among the top five that has not yet adopted a formal second-hand strategy beyond occasional campaigns for collecting old clothes or selling vintage pieces through specific collaborations. Shein, on the podium, has operated a dedicated second-hand marketplace in the United States for about a year. It allows customers to buy and sell garments they previously purchased, and insiders suggest a potential rollout to Spain in the near future.
On the German e-commerce front, Zalando lists a second-hand section on its site under Zalando Recommerce. This unit purchases garments from customers in exchange for a shopping voucher and resells them through the platform. Berlin and Helsinki oversee the initiative as part of the company’s broader sustainability and reuse strategy.
H M is pursuing a similar path with second-hand offerings in Germany and Sweden. Earlier this year the brand brought this model to a flagship store in Barcelona at Passeig de Gracia, where a dedicated corner sells items previously owned by customers and supplied through the store in a vintage format.
Among the remaining ten chains on the list, Kiabi operates a dedicated second-hand corner in many stores. Mango offers a rental service for events within its own ecosystem, though it is not yet present in Spain for resale. Massimo Dutti has some locations that feature garment, shoe and accessory collection points tied to second-hand activities.