What Kids' Clothes Are Best to Buy Secondhand?

Buying children's clothes secondhand can save a considerable amount of money, but not every purchase offers the same value.

A $5 T-shirt instead of a $10 new T-shirt saves $5. Finding a quality winter coat, wool jumper or special-occasion dress for a fraction of its original price can save considerably more.

Then there's another factor: how much useful life is left in the garment.

After handling more than 150,000 items of baby and children's clothing at Daisy Chain Clothing, we've found that the best secondhand purchases aren't necessarily just the cheapest clothes. They're often garments that are expensive to buy new, worn for relatively short periods, made to last, or needed only occasionally.

Here are the categories we'd look at first.

1. Jackets and coats

Jackets are one of the strongest candidates for buying secondhand.

A good children's winter jacket can be relatively expensive new, yet children may only wear it for one or two seasons before growing out of it. Outerwear also doesn't generally experience the same constant washing and direct contact with food, dirt and spills as everyday T-shirts and pants.

This is particularly worth considering for:

• wool coats
• down/feather-filled jackets
• rain jackets
• ski and snow jackets
• heavier winter jackets

The more expensive the garment would have been new, the greater the potential saving from finding a good preloved example.

There is an important qualification, though: inspect functional garments properly. Check zippers, press studs, cuffs, linings and elastic, and make sure waterproof or insulated garments still appear fit for their intended purpose.

Why it can make sense secondhand: relatively high new price + limited period of use + potentially plenty of useful life remaining.

2. Baby sleeping bags

Baby sleeping bags can be another particularly attractive secondhand purchase.

Parents may need several weights and sizes as their baby grows and the seasons change, while recognised brands can be relatively expensive when purchased new.

Because babies grow quickly, an individual sleeping bag may have been used for only a limited period before being outgrown.

Condition matters. Check zippers, fastenings, seams, arm and neck openings and the overall fabric carefully.

It's also important to distinguish ordinary clothing from products intended for sleep. Australian product-safety guidance provides specific advice about safe infant sleep products, and some products marketed for sleep are not recommended. Weighted sleep sacks and weighted swaddles, for example, should not be used for infant sleep.

Why it can make sense secondhand: relatively high cost per garment + babies rapidly moving through sizes and seasonal requirements.

3. Premium-fibre knitwear

Wool, merino wool and cashmere children's clothing can be expensive new.

That creates an obvious secondhand opportunity: the original owner paid for the expensive fibre and construction, but the next owner may be able to buy the garment at a much lower price.

A quality wool jumper doesn't become inherently less warm because another child has worn it.

The important question is condition. Look carefully for:

• holes, including tiny moth holes
• excessive pilling
• felting or shrinkage from incorrect washing
• stretched necklines and cuffs
• stains

Wool can also irritate some babies' skin, so it can be more suitable as an outer layer if your child is sensitive to it.

Why it can make sense secondhand: expensive materials can often be purchased for substantially less than their original retail price.

4. Special-occasion clothes

Party dresses, formal shirts, dress jackets and other occasionwear are almost tailor-made for the secondhand market.

A child might wear an outfit to a wedding, birthday, christening or other event only once or twice before growing out of it.

That creates the slightly absurd situation where one family can own a nearly new garment they no longer need while another family is considering buying essentially the same thing new.

Special-occasion clothes can therefore offer both strong savings and unusually good condition.

Why it can make sense secondhand: potentially very little previous wear + relatively high new price + limited use by the next child as well.

5. Baby clothes

Babies grow extraordinarily quickly.

Parents are often advised not to buy too much clothing in each size because babies grow out of it so fast.

That same problem for the original purchaser becomes an advantage for the secondhand buyer.

Bodysuits, tops, pants, cardigans, dresses and other baby garments can sometimes reach the secondhand market after relatively little use simply because they no longer fit.

There is a caveat: baby clothing also gets washed frequently and can experience food, milk and nappy-related stains. Condition matters more than age alone.

Why it can make sense secondhand: extremely short size windows mean some garments are outgrown long before they're worn out.

6. Clothes children need only briefly

Some clothing is required for a very specific season, activity or stage.

Think:

• snow clothing for a holiday
• heavier winter clothing in warmer parts of Australia
• costumes
• themed clothing
• formalwear
• particular seasonal items

If your child will wear something only a handful of times, paying full retail price becomes harder to justify.

Secondhand also gives these garments a particularly sensible lifecycle: one item can serve several children rather than spending most of its usable life in a wardrobe.

Why it can make sense secondhand: the cost per wear of buying new can otherwise be very high.

7. Better-quality everyday brands

Buying secondhand can also change what quality level you can afford.

Suppose your budget would buy either a brand-new budget garment or a better-made garment secondhand.

The cheaper new item isn't automatically the better value simply because nobody else has worn it.

Construction, fabric, remaining condition and how much wear your child is likely to get from the garment all matter.

This doesn't mean an expensive brand is automatically good value, either. Brand name alone tells you surprisingly little about the condition of an individual secondhand garment.

A well-kept inexpensive garment can be a much better purchase than a heavily worn premium one.

Why it can make sense secondhand: the same budget may provide access to clothing that was considerably more expensive when new.

8. Clothes you're happy for children to actually play in

There's another, less obvious advantage to inexpensive secondhand clothing: you might worry about it less.

Clothes for daycare, painting, gardening, playgrounds, messy meals and ordinary outdoor play don't necessarily need to arrive pristine.

A perfectly usable garment with some previous wash wear can make much more sense than buying something new and then worrying about the first grass stain.

This is one area where excellent condition isn't necessarily the goal.

The question becomes whether the garment's condition suits what you're buying it for.

A slightly faded $3 pair of play shorts and a beautifully preserved wool coat can both be excellent secondhand purchases for completely different reasons.

What should you inspect particularly carefully?

Whatever you're buying, don't let the low price make condition irrelevant.

For ordinary children's clothing, we'd check:

Knees and seat: particularly on pants and leggings, where fabric can become thin before developing an obvious hole.

Cuffs and necklines: look for stretching, fraying and excessive wear.

Elastic: waistbands can look perfectly good while the elastic itself has perished.

Zippers and fastenings: particularly important for jackets and sleeping bags.

Stains: examine photographs carefully when buying online. Light marks can be much harder to see in photographs than in person.

Fabric: look for excessive pilling, fading, thinning and shrinkage.

Labels: size labels are useful, but remember that children's sizing varies considerably between brands.

This is also where the seller matters. When buying online, check the photographs and description carefully and make sure you understand what the seller means by condition descriptions such as "excellent", "good" or "fair".

What about secondhand pyjamas and children's nightwear?

These deserve their own mention.

Children's nightwear from size 00 to 14 is covered by a mandatory Australian safety standard because of the risk associated with flammable fabrics. Relevant garments must carry prescribed fire-hazard information.

That doesn't mean children's nightwear can't be bought secondhand.

It does mean we'd want the original safety label to still be present and readable, and we'd avoid garments where you're unable to establish the relevant information.

Well-fitting nightwear is also important because loose-fitting nightwear has a greater risk of catching fire.

Are there children's products we wouldn't treat like ordinary secondhand clothing?

Definitely.

There's an important distinction between buying a used jumper and buying a used product whose safety depends on its design, history or compliance with a mandatory standard.

Products such as nursery equipment and child car restraints require considerably more scrutiny, including checking applicable standards, recalls, product history and condition. Private secondhand sales also generally don't provide the same consumer guarantees as buying from a business.

That's outside the scope of a clothing guide, but it's an important distinction:

"Buying children's things secondhand" isn't one single decision.

A preloved cotton T-shirt and a secondhand child restraint have completely different considerations.

So, what are the best kids' clothes to buy secondhand?

If we were prioritising where to look first, we'd start with clothing where one or more of these things are true:

That explains why a wool coat, baby sleeping bag, formal dress and $3 pair of play shorts can all be excellent secondhand purchases—even though they're excellent for completely different reasons.

The better question isn't simply "new or secondhand?"

It's what are you getting for your money?

Sometimes a new garment on sale will be the better purchase. Sometimes a heavily worn secondhand garment isn't good value at any price.

But children's clothing has one characteristic that makes the secondhand market particularly effective: children often outgrow clothes before the clothes themselves have reached the end of their useful life.

That mismatch creates the opportunity.

The original owner gets clothing they no longer need out of the wardrobe. The next family gets more use from something that already exists. And when you choose carefully, you can spend less without necessarily accepting lower-quality clothing.

More guides to buying preloved children's clothes

If you're ready to start shopping, our Best Places to Buy Preloved Baby & Children's Clothes in Australia compares op shops, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Vinted, specialist resale stores and other options.

For more practical buying advice, see our Ultimate Guide to Buying Preloved Children's Clothing in Australia. We've also looked at how much you can save buying secondhand for your baby's first year.