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Based on data from QuestBrand by The Harris Poll, Ad Age released their quarterly Gen Z Brand Tracker in May. This ongoing brand tracker ranks the top 20 brands with quarter-over-quarter brand equity growth among Gen Z adults (ages 18-28).
From Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, the secondhand apparel marketplace Depop experienced a +12.0% brand equity lift among Gen Z adults. Brand equity reflects the value that consumers attribute to a brand. The score is calculated by taking an average of a brand’s familiarity, perceived quality, purchase consideration, and perceived momentum scores.
The chart below shows that beyond Depop’s overall brand equity, the brand experienced significant growth across all four of its components – momentum (+5.3), consideration (+16.0), quality (+10.9), and familiarity (+15.0). The spike in Depop’s consideration score is particularly impressive, reflecting that Gen Z consumers notably more often reported that they would consider buying items from the online reseller in Q1 than at the end of 2024. What caught Gen Z’s attention?
Depop’s Change in Brand Equity Among Gen Z Adults (by Component) Q4 2024 Versus Q1 2025
QuestBrand. Base: Gen Z adults. Pre: 10/1/24-12/31/24, n=546. Post: 1/1/25-3/31/25, n=553.
Gen Z embraces “used clothing” as vintage
According to a February 2024 Harris Poll, 63% of Gen Zers say that they have purchased clothing and accessories secondhand (e.g., from a thrift store, resale marketplace) – outpacing the general population of U.S. adults (47%) – making Depop the perfect shopping destination for these vintage shoppers.
Why choose used clothing over new? Gen Z most often say that they purchased secondhand clothing or accessories in the last year due to cost (63%), the enjoyment of browsing secondhand sellers (43%), and to score unique items (42%).
However, a lot of Gen Z’s decision to purchase vintage comes down to appreciating the styles of past decades. Eight-in-10 (79%) Gen Zers who purchase fashion items for themselves agree that wearing vintage clothing is trendy.
Vintage DKNY reemerges from the 90’s
In March, Gen Z’s love of vintage was evident with the highly anticipated Depop release of 40 curated DKNY pieces from the ’90s and early 2000’s. DKNY’s popularity peaked during this era, but the brand is finding a new fanbase among these younger consumers. In the second half of 2024, Depop searches for DKNY were up 49%.
Gen Z’s clothing preferences mirror their streaming habits. In March, Harris Poll’s Thought Leadership & Futures team found on behalf of Tubi that Gen Z viewers have “new-stalgia” – defined as “a deliberate approach to discovering and claiming cultural artifacts from across time.” Two-thirds (66%) of Gen Zers say that they enjoy discovering content that was originally released 10+ years ago. Even more (82%) specifically browse streaming platforms to discover older content.
Similarly, Gen Zers love finding authentic vintage apparel from decades past. They don’t want their clothes to just look like they are from a different era, they want them to actually be from a different decade – resulting in a collection of unique, stylish pieces that can’t be found elsewhere.
Depop’s AI-powered listings encourage more scrolling
Also in Q1, Depop harnessed the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve users’ browsing experience. Depop’s updated system gives visitors a hyper-personalized feed that curates listings based on their clothing size and style. As users continue to interact with product listings, the website continues to refine what items appear on that user’s feed. This encourages shoppers to spend more time on Depop as they see more items that are tailored to their particular tastes.
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