by Kaitlin Dugan
The vintage aesthetic has reclaimed its place in the hearts and styles of Gen Z teenagers around the world. With every new year comes a “new” fashion phenomenon. In 2019, the VSCO girl emerged to reimagine ‘80s scrunchies. In 2020, athleisure and ‘90s nostalgia joined forces to make powerful sweatsuit and bike shorts statements. As we find ourselves a month deep into 2021, the thrill of thrift shopping is at an all time high due to the overwhelming pleasure that comes from finding hidden gems and supporting sustainable shopping methods. With the increasing popularity of thrifting, online marketplaces have used resale to their advantage.
In a world with a constantly changing fashion industry, it is time to understand the impact that resale can have on values, the environment, and the economy.
The prevalence of online marketplace initiatives has led to questionable actions while reselling clothes. Some resellers who strive to be entrepreneurs purposely engage in price-gouging and misrepresentation of their products, describing their listings as Y2K and vintage to spike interest. Others provide facts and reasonable prices to purge their overflowing closets. With resellers having different intentions, marketplaces such as Depop and online thrift stores like Goodfair have become digital game changers for millennials and teenagers alike.
Depop users can generate an account with extreme ease by simply creating a username, password, and adding an email address. Sellers can essentially create a start-up business without enduring the heavy costs and losses that arise from opening a physical shop. This application is driven by the ups and downs of societal trends, so it relies heavily on its users to make a profit. Essentially, Depop provides instantaneous thrifting experiences from the comfort of your own phone.
Alternatively, Goodfair does not function through exchanges between different user profiles. Instead, it's a thrift shop in website form, operating directly from a warehouse by saving items from landfills. Goodfair sells all of its merchandise in a variety bundle format for reasonable, traditional thrift store prices. It is morally determined to help end the problems that fast fashion causes (Martinko).
Do resale marketplaces condone the upscaling and blatant lying that occurs on their platforms? By investigating its mission statement, it is evident that Depop’s motive for success can be broken down into a three pillar, mutually-beneficial operation (The Business of Fashion). Based on community, entrepreneurship, and sustainability, Depop’s “mission is to redefine the fashion industry in the same way that Spotify did with music, or Airbnb did with travel accommodation” (“Simon Beckerman & Maria Raga”). Essentially, Depop strives to take over the traditional thrifting experience. Depop supports all business endeavors on its platform, stating, “we thrive on supporting innovation by shaping an environment where creators, makers or hustlers can thrive” (The Business of Fashion). The term hustlers alludes to the fact that it actively encourages sellers to sell, even by writing misleading descriptions or setting deceptive prices to make a profit. There is nothing actively stopping this occurrence. However, Depop does recommend writing relevant descriptions and setting realistic prices because “having a misleading description … isn’t going to help you make sales” (“Seller Handbook Guide” 42). But, they also advocate for sellers to “pick a price [they’re] happy with [or] make an educated guess” (“Seller Handbook Guide” 48). Being happy with a profit versus listing products truthfully can result in different outcomes. The entrepreneurship aspect of this plan allows many sellers to engage in fashion gentrification to make a quick profit over the phone.
Although Goodfair doesn’t engage in buying and selling through accounts on its platform, it does show a resemblance to Depop’s third pillar: sustainability. According to Goodfair, “[its] mission is to help curb consumer excess and increase sustainable living by offering access to quality preloved goods” (Martinko). Goodfair is less focused on supplying fashionable clothing and is more interested in combating the current standards of the fashion industry. Topper Luciani, creator of Goodfair, supports any company who endorses the sustainable lifestyle, stating “In reality, anyone who's selling secondhand is better than someone who's making something, even if they’re technically competition” (Huber).
How will the growth of sustainable online companies affect the state of physical stores across the globe? The United States Chamber of Commerce believes that recommerce and resale will greatly increase in the near future, and traditional retailers will involve themselves in it (Verdon). According to James Rinehart, co-founder and CEO of Thred-Up, an online consignment store, “As the line between new and used apparel blurs for consumers, a powerful transformation in retail will unfold” (Verdon). The rise of the resale market will greatly affect the future of clothing production and sales. A ThredUp report states that “the $29 billion secondhand apparel market will nearly double to $51 billion by 2023” (Verdon). By 2028, an estimated $64 billion will be made, $20 billion more than the $44 billion in fast fashion sales for that year (Verdon).
Constantly changing societal and fashion trends have heightened the search for affordable, stylish clothing for all. While fast fashion lures people in with cheap trendy patterns, the environmental and moral issues that have arisen cause many to look for a simple alternative in thrifting. Technological advancements in shopping have opened the floor for new, online resale platforms that will forever change the fashion industry.
Works Cited
The Business of Fashion, www.businessoffashion.com/organisations/depop-3.
Huber, Eliza. “Can Mystery Thrifting Save Fashion's Waste Problem?” Can Goodfair
Solve Fashion's Clothing Waste Problem?, www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/05/9838812/goodfair-sustainable-online-thrift-star
t-up.
Martinko, Katherine. “Goodfair Shows How Thrift Shopping Can Go Online.”
Treehugger, www.treehugger.com/goodfair-shows-how-thrift-shopping-can-go-online-5077054.
“Seller Handbook Guide.” Depop,
https://sellers.depop.com/Seller_Handbook_Final_US.pdf.
“Simon Beckerman & Maria Raga Are Part of the BoF 500.” The Business of Fashion,
1 Oct. 2019,
www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/maria-raga-simon-beckerman.
Verdon, Joan. “How Major Retailers Are Fueling the Resale Trend.”
https://www.uschamber.com/Co, 16 Sept. 2019,
www.uschamber.com/co/good-company/launch-pad/retailers-fuel-resale-trend.
Artwork Credit:
Kaitlyn Dugan
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