US secondhand/thrift store market

Between 2012 and 2022, premium pet food and secondhand clothing grew together at a correlation of 0.97, perfectly capturing the defining aesthetic of a certain demographic: spend lavishly on the dog, buy the blazer used. This is not a contradiction — it is a philosophy. The data suggests that Americans have reached a sophisticated equilibrium in which their animals eat better than their grandparents did, and they feel good about it because the vintage sweater offsets something.

The US pet food market grew from roughly $21 billion in 2012 to over $50 billion by 2022, driven by premiumization, grain-free and organic product lines, and the continued humanization of pets. The US secondhand and thrift market grew from about $12 billion to over $35 billion over the same period, accelerated by platforms like ThredUp, Poshmark, and Depop, and driven by sustainability awareness and value-seeking among younger consumers. Both markets expanded simultaneously within the same demographic of millennial and Gen Z consumers with distinctive spending priorities.

Two markets can correlate because they share a customer, a moment, or a value system — and in this case, possibly all three. The numbers are not lying; they are just describing a generation.