Online fashion retailer Zalando is expanding its pre-owned category to include children’s clothing.

Parents will be able to buy quality-checked second-hand items for their children and trade in outgrown clothes for Zalando credit.

The service covers babywear through to teenage sizes. Customers can buy like-new products and sell children’s clothing back to Zalando directly, trading in like-new or gently worn kids’ items bought on the platform for a gift voucher that can be used on any future purchase, including pre-owned.

There are no photos to upload or postage fees to pay. Zalando said its in-house team quality-checks every product before listing to ensure that “good-as-new” items meet its quality standards.

The children’s pre-owned range is available in 14 countries across Europe, including Austria, Belgium and the Czech Republic.

Zalando added that sales of adult pre-owned fashion have doubled, with around half of pre-owned items selling within the first 24 hours of going live. For premium brands, that figure rises to 90 per cent.

The retailer said the trend reflects changing family shopping habits. It pointed out that in 2025, more than 40 per cent of orders were “mixed baskets”, where customers bought pre-owned items alongside new fashion or beauty products in a single checkout.

Alice Marshall, director of pre-owned at Zalando, said the category removes much of the friction traditionally associated with second-hand shopping.

“Customers can shop for a premium pre-owned winter coat and a new pair of sneakers in one go, with the confidence that every piece has been hand-inspected for quality and they can easily and conveniently sell clothes back to Zalando,” she said. “By expanding into children’s second-hand clothing and accessories, we bring the unmatched convenience of buying and selling pre-owned fashion to the whole family.”

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