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September 19, 2026 - Silicon Valley, CA

Fashion’s obsession with “new” is getting competition from something decidedly older. California technology companies helped turn secondhand clothing into a searchable, authenticated and increasingly sophisticated digital marketplace.

From Thrift to Infrastructure

San Francisco’s The RealReal, Oakland-founded ThredUp and Redwood City-founded Poshmark helped turn the hunt for used clothing into an industry built on logistics, data and search. The Los Angeles Times reported the secondhand market at more than $240 billion, with companies increasingly using AI for sorting, discovery and closet valuation.

For KOLAK Archive, the shift is bigger than resale. Silicon Valley technology helped change how fashion assigns value to the past—making archive knowledge, scarcity and personal taste part of the same digital economy.

Source: Los Angeles Times.