The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The online resale platform posted record sales in the fourth quarter of 2021, it said Mar. 7, but profitability won’t be on the horizon this year.
ThredUp garnered $73 million in sales in the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2021 — a 68 percent uptick from the same period in 2020 and an all-time quarterly sales high for the 13-year-old company.
In the fiscal year 2021, ThredUp garnered $252 million in revenue, marking 35 percent growth from the previous year. Its EBITDA, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, also improved, jumping from a loss margin of 18 percent of revenue in 2020 to 14.5 percent in 2021. In 2022, the company said it expects EBITDA margin loss to remain the same, in the range of 15.5 percent to 13.5 percent.
“We ended our first year as a public company with another quarter of strong financial performance,” chief executive James Reinhart said in a statement. “In 2022, we expect our continued investment in our infrastructure both domestically and internationally will enable us to keep building the foundation for the future of resale on the internet.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Learn more:
The Future of Fashion Resale Report — BoF Insights
BoF’s definitive guide to fashion resale, covering the evolution of the market, its growth and upside, consumer behaviours and recommendations for crafting a data-driven resale strategy.
As the German sportswear giant taps surging demand for its Samba and Gazelle sneakers, it’s also taking steps to spread its bets ahead of peak interest.
A profitable, multi-trillion dollar fashion industry populated with brands that generate minimal economic and environmental waste is within our reach, argues Lawrence Lenihan.
RFID technology has made self-checkout far more efficient than traditional scanning kiosks at retailers like Zara and Uniqlo, but the industry at large hesitates to fully embrace the innovation over concerns of theft and customer engagement.
The company has continued to struggle with growing “at scale” and issued a warning in February that revenue may not start increasing again until the fourth quarter.