A New Digital Habit
For many of us, opening the Vinted app has become just as routine as scrolling through Instagram or queuing up songs on Spotify. What used to be thought of as an old-fashioned or not-so-hip way to shop is now booming as a key part of modern fashion culture. Alongside the charm of vintage boutiques, second hand stores have gained quite a following on social media and become a staple in our everyday digital browsing. Thanks to platforms like Vinted and Depop, secondhand fashion has transformed from merely a necessity into a chic, stylish, and ethical choice for many. This evolution not only embraces the fashion of old times, but also aligns with sustainable shopping practices.
This change is not just about the desire to wear vintage and fashion. Thanks to social media, people are becoming increasingly aware of how fashion harms the environment. This can be seen in the many social media posts that draw attention to the alarming amount of used clothing ending up in landfills, the pollution caused by green light gas emissions, and the significant amount of water wasted. This article looks at how second-hand fashion has changed in recent years, how it has affected the industry, how it affects sustainability, and what challenges lie ahead.
Vinted: From Local Idea to Global Platform
Vinted was created in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2008 by Milda Mitkute and a friend, who set up a website to clear out their closet. After initial success in the country, it expanded in Germany and in other European markets. By 2014 it launched in countries like the UK, but the platform started gaining traction in 2021, after having decluttered our whole house during the Covid pandemic. Now Vinted is considered one of the leading online marketplaces for pre-owned clothing in Europe, with over 80 million users across 20+ countries.
The platform operates on a peer-to-peer (P2P) model, where users list their own items for sale. Unlike competitors like Depop or Poshmark, Vinted positions itself as inclusive, casual, and practical, offering everything from fast fashion brands to vintage treasures. Many of its users prefer this app to that of its competitors because of how easy it is to be both a seller and a buyer: it creates an in-app postage label, it does not charge the seller with any shipping fee, and the purchasing experience feel more authentic thanks to the ban on website pictures of the garments. It represents an efficient alternative to platforms like Asos or Zalando, with the perk of being also more sustainable: according to some research commissioned by Vinted itself, 39% of transactions carried out on the platform have prevented the purchase of a new item. From a student project to an international operation that employs more than 1800 people, Vinted is the online substitute to thrift shops and vintage markets.
A Ripple Effect in the Fashion Industry
With changing consumer behavior and thinking, the proliferation of second-hand clothing has begun to affect the way the fashion industry operates. Big brands have started to recognize websites like Vinted and Depop. While well-known fast-fashion brands like H&M have implemented in-store recycling bins and second-hand sections, luxury brands like Gucci and Levi’s are experimenting with resale programs. Even Shein, whose business model is often criticized for being built on excessively fast consumption, has joined the resale movement. At the same time, there has been a significant change in society’s view of second-hand clothing. Previously, second-hand shopping was associated with “cheap” or necessity. Today, people are actively showing off: clothes purchased from second-hand stores are trending on Instagram and TikTok.
Challenges Behind the Hype
But is it all rainbows and unicorns?
As a company that facilitates millions of transactions per month, Vinted faces some complex logistics challenges. These include the need to offer affordable and efficient shipping methods, an easy-to-use payment method and the guarantee to support customers in cases of need.
Because of the peer-to-peer system, the platform relies heavily on the honesty of its users: issues like listing fake items, shipping times and disputes over conditions of the purchases are never going to disappear, but it is a necessity for the app to intervene and take action.
Sustainability also raises some concerns, most of which are related to the environmental costs created by each parcel that is created. According to a study conducted by McKinsey, road freight accounts for 15% of Europe’s CO2 emissions. The so-called “last mile” of delivery, when parcels move from a local hub to front doors, is the most polluting. “We can criticise the fact that it’s delivered, and there’s mileage in that, and the couriers might be working for the gig economy … but if something is getting worn and used by more than one person, that is more of what we need,” says Dr Elaine Ritch, an expert in fashion-consumer behaviour at Glasgow Caledonian University. “We need to make the most of the resources already in circulation.”
As a platform, Vinted has the opportunity to do even better: partnering with sustainable brands, or with repair services, could further increase the app’s reputation and its number of users.
A Step in the Right Direction, but Not the End Goal
Despite the incredible impact Vinted has had -and it is still having- on our way to perceive fashion, and how easily it has made buying and selling vintage and second-hand pieces, this is still not enough: the fast fashion industry is growing as you are reading this article, and an app is not going to change the world.
People need to adopt a more circular approach to consumption. Reuse needs to become the norm rather than the exception or the trend. Real change happens when we think more carefully about what we buy, why we buy it and how long we keep it. This door opens with second-hand clothing, but it requires a more significant mental shift to pass through. If we allow the ease of apps like Vinted with a growing awareness of the impact of fashion, style and sustainability can truly coexist in the future.
Written by Duru Alper and Caterina Molinari Pradelli
References
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2024/jan/09/the-vinted-phenomenon-how-one-woman-sold- her-clothes-and-created-a-billion-dollar-company
https://careers.vinted.com/company
https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/fashion/article/vinted-app-valued-billion-vh8mx2m58
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jan/11/from-rags-to-riches-the-history-of-secondhand-c lothes
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/a-new-textiles-economy
https://www.thredup.com/resale
