Secondhand shopping has always been a bit of a sport. But as resale platforms flood with fast fashion, it’s getting harder to find great quality secondhand clothing in Australia.
Fortunately, a growing number of Australian (and NZ) fashion brands are making it easier to shop their clothes again.
Some have created full resale platforms, others offer take-back incentives or curated secondhand collections. It’s a great way to shop and sell preloved without relying on the resale roulette of online marketplaces.
Australian fashion brands with resale or take-back programs:
- Assembly Label – Re-Worn
- Kowtow – Relove
- Spell – reSpell
- Lorna Jane – Preloved
- Nudie Jeans – Re-use
- Citizen Wolf – Circular
- Patagonia – Worn Wear
- Upparel & RecycleSmart – Clothing recycling
Keep scrolling for the full list of brands offering takebacks and resale, making it easier to buy preloved clothing directly from Australian labels.
We’ll keep adding to it as more brands join the party.
Assembly Label Re-worn
Assembly Label’s Re-Worn program takes back your old Assembly pieces. You bring back the items you’re no longer wearing (any condition is okay), and they sort through everything in their Sydney HQ.
Pieces that are still in great shape are professionally cleaned, repaired if needed, and resold in small curated drops, online or in Re-Worn pop-ups. You get 20% off your next purchase as a thank you.
Anything that’s too damaged to sell is handed over to SCR Group, a local textile recycling partner. Depending on the condition, items might be shredded into rags, processed into industrial biofuel, or broken down for use as yarn.
Kowtow – Relove
Kowtow’s Relove platform gives their Fairtrade cotton pieces a second chance, while rewarding you with loyalty points.
It’s part of their wider circularity initiative, The Kowtow Collective, which makes buying and selling pre-loved Kowtow as easy as logging into your account.
If you’ve got a Kowtow piece you’re ready to part with, list it through the Collective and set your price. Once it sells, you ship it off and receive store credit.
Looking to buy? You’ll find a curated feed of gently worn Kowtow garments, often including old favourites you might’ve missed.
Spell – reSpell
Spell fans have been swapping, selling, and searching for past pieces for years, often in niche Facebook groups and dedicated resale pages. reSpell takes that culture and gives it a permanent home on Spell’s own site.
You can buy directly from other Spell lovers, with each listing verified and managed through the platform. It’s still peer-to-peer, but the process is far simpler than trawling through Marketplace or auction-style groups.
If you’re after a sold-out style or missed a collection drop, this is your best bet.
You can also list your own gently worn pieces, hang onto them until they sell, and pass them on when the time comes.
Lorna Jane Preloved
Lorna Jane runs a resale program through their site, offering secondhand pieces sent in by customers.
Items are reviewed and listed by the brand, and sold at a reduced price.
It’s not a huge catalogue — the range depends on what’s been returned — but for regular LJ wearers, it’s a simple way to rehome old gear or pick up something familiar for less.
You can also send back your own pre-loved pieces to be listed.
Nudie Jeans – Re-use
Used, pre-owned, vintage, handed down, second hand, third hand, fourth hand. Nudie just calls it Re-use.
Hand in your old pair at participating Nudie Jeans Repair Shops or partners, where they’re washed, repaired if needed, and put back on the rack to be bought again. With 20% off your next pair as thanks.
They also repair worn jeans, reuse the fabric for patches or redesign, and recycle anything too far gone, keeping denim in use for as long as possible.
Brands that will take back your old clothes to recycle
Citizen wolf Circular
Citizen Wolf doesn’t do resale (yet), but their Circular program is a solid take-back system that ensures your old custom-fit tees and staples never go to landfill. Send them back when they’re worn out, and they’ll be responsibly recycled.
Patagonia Worn Wear
Through Patagonia’s Worn Wear program, you can send in your used Patagonia clothing and gear for store credit — up to 25% of the original retail price. Items are assessed, then either resold through the Worn Wear platform or recycled if they’re no longer wearable.
You can post them in or drop them off at select stores.
RecycleSmart
RecycleSmart partners with local councils to pick up your unwanted clothing (and a bunch of other hard-to-recycle items) right from your doorstep. Book a collection through their app, leave your items out, and they’ll do the rest.
Upparel
Upparel runs a mail-in program for clothing and textile recycling. You book a collection, pack up what you’re done with — including damaged clothes, odd socks, or fabric scraps — and they sort it for reuse or recycling They’ll even send you credit to spend with partner brands.
Need a fix instead?
Plenty of these brands offer repairs too. Head to our repair directory for the full list of who’s mending what.
Know a brand we missed? Let us know — we’ll keep this list growing.
