“I had so many clothes and I was doing a lot of shopping. Then my mum was like, ‘Jaime, the clothes that you don’t wear anymore, they are just sitting there, right?” says Jaime Xie, Bling Empire star and fashion influencer. “I was selling things on eBay, and I discovered vintage.” The 24-year-old Chinese American reality TV personality started shopping vintage around four years ago and now keeps a growing collection of more than 200 second-hand pieces including apparel, shoes and bags. Over the past year, she has brought vintage looks—ranging from John Galliano’s Dior to archival Versace dresses—to runway front rows and red carpets. A couple of days before speaking to Tatler by phone from Los Angeles, Xie was in London, where she also spent five hours in a vintage boutique and introduced another fashionista to the concept. “I took my mum vintage shopping for the first time. She loved it too.”
Xie is one of millions driving momentum in the resale market. According to the 2022 resale report by Thredup, the largest online thrift and consignment store, the global second-hand market is expected to grow to US$36 billion