Melrose thrift shop thrives on Gen Z influencer fashion

Nadia Garcia was showing a visiting friend around the Fairfax neighborhood one recent Saturday when she paused in front of a small shop on Melrose Avenue.

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"We have to go in here," Garcia recalled saying to her friend. They walked in and began to sift through a rack of women's shorts and Lululemon leggings.At a time when secondhand shopping is on the rise — with the global market valued at about $210 billion and projected to surpass $320 billion by 2030 — one Los Angeles consignment store has carved out a niche by sourcing its inventory from the overstuffed closets of Southern California social media influencers. Detoure, which opened in April 2024, bills itself as an “influencer sourced thrift store.” Many of the store's visitors are Gen Zers like Garcia, who said she was captivated by the concept after seeing it on TikTok.

“I knew it would be stuff that was geared towards my style and my interest,” said Garcia, a 26-year-old digital marketing manager. Detoure’s name combines the words “detour” and “couture,” and reflects the business’ goal of providing a “detour” around buying new fast fashion, said founder Meghan Russell, 28. The store tries to solve two problems at once. People who can’t afford to buy trendy clothes at full price turn to cheaper “dupes” that contribute to fast fashion waste, she said. Meanwhile, influencers, who rapidly cycle through clothes, receive so many brand-name gifts that they don't have room to keep it all. “We are taking clothes from the fashion inspo,” Russell said.