By Jessica Columbus
In an era where many people are becoming more conscious of the often-detrimental environmental effects of the fast-fashion industry, attitudes towards buying second-hand clothing have rapidly transformed.
As has the way in which people purchase their clothing.
This is most often seen with Millennials and, in particular, Gen Z; the generation described by Vogue Business as the Depop Generation.
Gen Z is the first generation where it’s almost seen as cooler to have gotten your clothing from a second-hand online shop than it is to have gotten it from a designer boutique.
The rise of second-hand reselling sites such as Depop and Facebook Marketplace has been cataclysmic.
These sites are set up to mimic a more typical social media layout over the more traditional reselling sites such as Ebay and are seeing major increase in their userbases, with Depop having a whopping 43 million registered accounts and Facebook Marketplace having an impressive 800 million registered users.
Depop’s user interface makes it simple for users to find items that fit their personal style, no matter how niche it may be, by employing traditional social media tactics such as hashtags.
In its first-ever trend report, Depop found that many people looked to the app to purchase some of the biggest trends of 2024, such as the Adidas Gazelle and ballet flats, instead of purchasing them first-hand.
But the rise of reselling apps such as Depop and Facebook Marketplace is not all roses in an era of mass overconsumption.
With 86 per cent of Gen Z saying social media impacts their fashion purchases it seems even second-hand reselling apps are not immune because even buying second-hand clothing contributes to global overconsumption.
There is also the issue of “thrift scalpers”, people who buy in bulk from op shops with the sole purpose of selling these goods for an inflated price online.
This leads to increased demands and rising prices in physical op shops which can negatively affect those who actually need to purchase from those stores to be able to afford clothing.
Despite their flaws, all signs show that clothing reselling apps are here to stay and will only achieve more momentum.
Featured image: Reselling apps are leading a rag-trade revolution. Photo: M & J Braun/CC/ Wikimedia Commons