Resale presents a promising application for AI in the fashion industry, contributing to a more circular economy. Poshmark recently introduced its initial AI offering, Posh Lens, on July 19. This innovative tool combines image recognition and visual search capabilities to find styles similar to an uploaded image. Posh Lens already supports approximately 80 million searchable items on the Poshmark platform. Sellers can leverage this technology to streamline their product posting process, identifying inventory quickly and pricing it competitively. Moving forward, Poshmark intends to utilize AI to personalize user recommendations during live shopping sessions called "Posh Shows. " Since its launch last year, Posh Shows have garnered over 100, 000 sessions hosted by tens of thousands of sellers, with new features still being introduced. Poshmark's founder and CEO, Manish Chandra, highlights AI's significant potential in different aspects of resale, particularly in making managing and selling items more convenient. He envisions a future where users can simply scan their closets, have their phones recognize the contents, and receive recommendations on what to wear based on personal preferences and the weather.

Chandra also shares that around 15-20% of items sold in a user's Posh Show are sourced from other users. As Poshmark expands into the Korean and Japanese markets, they aim to offer AI assistants for sellers who manage multiple customers. Chandra emphasizes Poshmark's vision of connecting individuals within various micro-communities more effectively. Beyond Poshmark, other companies like EON and Goodwill Finds are utilizing AI technology to enhance the resale experience. EON, in partnership with Vestiaire Collective, introduced NFC tags for easier item tracing in resale transactions, similar to Poshmark's AI-assisted product uploading process. Meanwhile, Goodwill Finds utilizes AI to categorize and price products on its e-commerce platform. The positive environmental impact of buying and wearing secondhand clothing, as highlighted in ThredUp's recent impact report, demonstrates the importance of the resale industry in reducing carbon emissions, energy usage, and water consumption.