How to build a cross-functional engine for resale at scale

The fashion industry is at a critical juncture. Launching a resale pilot has moved from a niche experiment to a near-essential part of brand strategy. The US resale market grew an astonishing 15 times faster than the broader clothing retail sector in 2023¹. Globally, the secondhand apparel market is projected to reach $367 billion by 2029, growing nearly three times faster than the apparel market overall².

Many resale programmes are launched with the best intentions - to meet customer demand, explore new revenue streams, and take meaningful steps towards a more circular model. If you’ve launched one, you’re already ahead of the curve. The challenge isn't in the launching; it's in the scaling.

Recent research from the British Fashion Council (BFC) found that while 82% of brands have implemented circular initiatives, a staggering 0% were confident in their ability to scale them³.

For the past year, Clarasys has partnered with the British Fashion Council to investigate this very challenge. Our work on driving customer-centric growth in resale has given us access to the leaders on the ground - from global brands and retailers to innovative marketplaces and technology providers. This work has illuminated one critical reason for this confidence gap: a lack of clear, cross-functional ownership. 

(Watch out for the full report launching on Thursday, 23rd October 2025, and sign up to the companion webinar on Tuesday 21st October 2025 to hear directly from some of the leading organizations in this space).

The barrier to scaling: Why resale needs co-ownership

In many cases, the primary barrier to scaling is organizational. A resale pilot often begins life within a sustainability or marketing department - the teams most passionate about the mission. This is a perfect place to start, but it can become a roadblock to growth.

When resale is viewed primarily as a sustainability initiative, it can struggle to get the attention and resources from the wider business. Scaling resale is a complex, whole-business transformation that requires a new, cross-functional engine to run. Too often, the core components of that engine (Finance, Marketing, Technology, and Logistics) are disconnected, each viewing the pilot as a distraction from their core KPIs. This isn't a failure of collaboration; it's a sign that the model needs to evolve.

Mapping circular capabilities as a blueprint for resale success

Before deciding on an operating model, whether in-house, outsourced, or hybrid, the most effective next step is to map your organization's circular capabilities.

In simple terms, a capability is what your business needs to be good at to deliver a service successfully. For resale, this isn't just "selling second-hand clothes"; it's a range of specific activities like:

• Reverse logistics: Profitably getting a single, un-barcoded item from a customer's home back into your supply chain.
• Triage and authentication: Grading, pricing, and authenticating unique items with speed and consistency.
• Dual-persona customer experience (CX): Designing a seamless journey for both the seller (who wants speed and value) and the buyer (who wants trust and quality).
• Data and tech integration: Plugging this new class of inventory into your existing e-commerce and CRM systems, and deploying technology that can track and manage individual items without a traditional SKU—a new challenge for retail.

This "capabilities-first" exercise is powerful because it addresses a core industry challenge. According to the BFC, 78% of resale initiatives are reportedly still in pilot phases, and the heavy reliance on third-party partnerships (88%) is a clear signal that most brands struggle to overcome internal operational hurdles⁴. 

Mapping your capabilities is also solution-agnostic. It focuses on the "what" before the "how." The process itself brings immense benefits: you can assess your current maturity, identify critical gaps, and see exactly which internal and external stakeholders will be impacted by the move to resale.

Most importantly, it forces a cross-functional perspective. When you map out "reverse logistics" or "data integration," you are creating a blueprint that shows this isn't just a sustainability project, it's an operational and technological challenge that requires the whole business to engage. This process naturally stimulates discussions on the risks and opportunities across the organization, forming the perfect foundation for your business case. (Look out for a future article where we will dive deeper into choosing the right resale operating model for your business).

Translating resale into a business case for every leader

With a clear capabilities map, you can build a business case that secures the buy-in and resources from leadership needed to form a dedicated, cross-functional team. This is intended to help address pitfalls in resale, getting “lost in translation” when subjected to everyday business operations⁵ and failure to capture a comprehensive business case due to benefits being distributed across departments⁶. Resale should be framed in the language of each functional leader, for example:

• For your CFO: Frame the discussion around Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Risk Mitigation. Resale customers often have a higher repeat purchase rate, and a robust circular model provides a hedge against volatile supply chains and the costs of upcoming Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations.
• For your CMO: Focus on lowering Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). Resale is a powerful, low-cost channel to acquire new, aspirational customers. Emphasize how offering brand credit for trade-ins creates a loyalty loop that locks value back into your ecosystem and drives full-price sales.
• For your COO & CTO: Position resale as the key to building a resilient, two-way, data-rich supply chain. Every returned item provides invaluable data on product durability that can inform future design—a direct feedback loop from your customers to your research and development team.

Your first three steps to move from pilot to priority

1. Map your capabilities first. Before making any big decisions, use the blueprint approach to get an honest assessment of your organizational needs and rally stakeholders around a shared understanding of the challenge.
2. Assemble a dedicated scaling team. Build a dedicated, cross-functional team with empowered leads from Finance, Tech, Marketing, and Supply Chain, led by a single owner with a C-suite mandate.
3. Translate your business case. Hold separate conversations with each functional leader. Don't present one generic business case; present their business case. Show the CFO the CLV models and the CMO the CAC data.

A new mindset for a new model

Resale initiatives can falter when they are treated as a simple add-on or a sustainability problem to be solved. The reality is that successful scaling requires building entirely new organizational muscles.

By thinking deeply about the capabilities needed to succeed, you stimulate the necessary cross-functional engagement, highlight the real risks and opportunities, and show key stakeholders what is truly required. It demonstrates that resale is a strategic evolution that demands new ways of working and that expecting immediate, seamless success is short-sighted. In a market growing as rapidly as this one, the organizations that embrace this complexity and treat resale as a strategic play will not just participate, they will lead.

We can help you make resale a circular growth engine. Build the cross‑functional capabilities and customer‑led journeys to scale with confidence. Explore our Circular Economy services | Contact us

References

1. McKinsey, The State of Fashion 2025

2. ThredUp, Resale Report 2025

3, 4 & 6. British Fashion Council, Circular Fashion Innovation Network CFIN MAY 2025 REPORT

5. Hultberg & Pal (2023) Exploring Scalability from a Triple Bottom Line Perspective: Challenges and Strategic Resources for Fashion Resale