If Fortnite Thrift Stores Existed: Gaming Skins and Secondhand Fashion

Customization shapes who you are in the gaming world. Digital skins have become a form of cultural currency in games like Fortnite, where players utilize pixels to showcase their personality, status, and creativity. But what if this idea jumped from the screen into real life, more specifically, into the world of secondhand fashion?

Digital Thrift: Gaming Skins

Skins in Fortnite are a lot like things you might find in a thrift store: they're rare, one-of-a-kind, sometimes related to a moment, and often only available for a short time. These traits are similar to what makes the real-life resale and vintage fashion market work.

Thrift Stores: Real-Life Loot Boxes

Thrifting already interests Gen Z, who relish the thrill of uncovering hidden treasures, much like the excitement of opening digital loot boxes or acquiring rare skins. Imagine a real store that mirrors a Fortnite shop, with racks color-coded by the rarity of the items (standard, rare, epic, legendary), and labels like "legendary" for a 90s denim jacket or "epic" for a patched leather moto jacket. The thrill of thrifting isn't just about being eco-friendly; it's about the game-like mechanics and the exhilaration of discovering something unique and new.

Being Able to Last by Using GAMIFICATION

Gamers are used to "leveling up" their avatars and getting cosmetic rewards. If you think of sustainable consumption as something you want to do, rather than something you have to do, it might be easier to change your clothes. In 2025, the resale and secondhand fashion market is booming because people are increasingly concerned with being unique, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. According to McKinsey's State of Fashion 2025 report, "the growth in resale platforms ... is robust in luxury because people have too much exposure to luxury goods." People are seeking unique things that cannot be bought with money.

How Virtual Luxury Fashion Mirrors Actual Consumer Conduct

Recent research (2025) into the motivations of Chinese consumers for purchasing virtual luxury fashion (such as game skins and avatar fashion) indicates that, in addition to status and aesthetics, consumers are influenced by identity expression and social presence within virtual environments. These motivations are very similar to those in secondhand fashion: a desire to own things that have a story, are rare, or are unique.

The Future of Fashion Marketing at Raffles Jakarta

Fashion marketing's next big thing is to mix up digital and real-life identities. Brands that understand gaming culture and incorporate it into secondhand clothing stores could change how people perceive clothes, not just for their style, but also for their story, rarity, and self-expression.

Our Fashion Marketing & Management program at Raffles Jakarta prepares students for precisely these kinds of situations, where gaming skins intersect with thrift fashion, sustainability meets identity, and marketing is both an art and a game.

References

McKinsey & Company. (2025). The fashion industry faces a world in flux. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/the-fashion-industry-faces-a-world-in-flux

Liu, T. (2025). Consumer purchase motivations of virtual luxury fashion in virtual worlds (i.e., luxury skins in video games). Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 29(5), 844–859. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-09-2024-0256