What’s Gaining Value, What’s Next and How America Is Shopping Luxury Now

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The RealReal (NASDAQ: REAL), the world’s largest online marketplace for authenticated resale luxury goods, today released its 2026 Resale Report, The (R)evolution of Resale, revealing how resale is reshaping what consumers buy, what they value and how they define luxury.

Powered by 15 years of proprietary data across more than 50 million items sold and a community of 44 million members, The RealReal has a singular view into the luxury lifecycle. The annual report reveals what customers search and save to what they buy, consign and sell, and how the value of individual items changes over time.

“The RealReal tracks the shifts of the luxury resale marketplace uniquely due to our combination of product depth, history and data,” said Rati Sahi Levesque, President and CEO of The RealReal. “Over 15 years and more than 50 million items sold, we’ve built a proprietary dataset that connects what people want with what they own, what they’re selling and what those pieces are worth at any given time. Combined with our authentication expertise and technology to authenticate, price and track millions of unique items, The RealReal has an unmatched ability to understand the real market value of luxury, as well as to see where the market is going before it gets there.”

Key Findings // The RealReal 2026 Resale Report

• Vintage is surging: Demand for vintage on The RealReal is up 432% since 2020, while decade-specific saved searches rose 135% Y/Y. Searches for 2000s fashion jumped 93%.
   
• Nostalgia is getting hyper-specific: Saved searches surged 650% for “Phoebe Philo Celine,” 400% for “Nicolas Ghesquière Balenciaga” and 375% for “Marc Jacobs Louis Vuitton.”
   
• Luxury is local: Minneapolis buys and sells nearly 9x the national average of Thom Browne; Dallas buys 2.5x more David Yurman jewelry; and demand for Montblanc in Tampa/St. Pete more than tripled.
   
• The data spots acceleration early: Saved searches jumped 136% for Alaïa, 96% for Miu Miu and 88% for Loewe, while searches for Chanel creative director Matthieu Blazy skyrocketed 10,967%.
   
• Secondhand is becoming the first choice: 93% of Americans shop online for secondhand items. (Source: Capital One Shopping Report, March 2026)

Also covered in the report:

• Breakout brands from the first half 2026
   
• Big jumps in luxury value over time across brands and styles
   
• New classics, what to buy now

THE REALREAL: 15 YEARS AHEAD OF THE MARKET

The RealReal pioneered authenticated luxury resale at scale architecting a unique business model that is difficult to replicate: proprietary data spanning more than 50 million items and 44 million members, combined with the expertise and technology to authenticate, price and bring millions of unique luxury goods to market. Every search, obsession, save, consignment and transaction makes our intelligence richer creating a powerful flywheel that sharpens The RealReal’s understanding of demand, supply, scarcity and value at the individual-item level.

That advantage compounds as resale moves further into the center of the luxury economy. With every item, buyer and consignor, The RealReal’s data gets smarter and its marketplace stronger. Fifteen years after pioneering luxury resale at scale, The RealReal has become an authoritative source for what luxury is worth, what consumers want and where the market is headed next.

Download Report Here: The 2026 Resale Report, The (R)evolution of Resale

ABOUT THE REALREAL

The RealReal is the world’s largest online marketplace for authenticated resale luxury goods, with 44 million members. Built on 15 years of proprietary data from more than 50 million items sold, The RealReal operates a managed marketplace combining expert authentication with proprietary technology and data-driven insights across pricing and demand. The company makes selling effortless through virtual appointments, in-home pickup, drop-off and direct shipping, while giving buyers access to a constantly changing assortment of authenticated luxury across fashion, fine jewelry and watches, art and home.

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SOURCE The RealReal