Vinted, Vestiaire Co, Depop … Here’s where to buy second-hand items online in 2022

December 31, 2021

For many people, second-hand clothing is nothing new. For others, it is almost a recent trend. Whatever the reasons, always this practice has many benefits for the personal wallet, but also for the planet. And this, as long as you don’t shop there at the same pace as fast fashion. It is, alas, a growing drift, which we talked about in the episode dedicated to the second hand of the podcast Raw material.

Globally, the second-hand market is only growing. In France it generated 7 billion euros in 2019, of which one billion for textiles aloneaccording to a study by Xerfi for the French Institute of Fashion (IFM), cited by the media FashionUnited.com.

According to the research firm Bostong Consulting Group, the global second-hand clothing market is estimated at $ 40 billion in 2019. Only 2% of the total apparel market, but with maddening 15-20% growth forecast for the next five years! In short, everyone wants their piece of the pie, whether you are an average person, a second-hand platform, or even a brand. Best of.

Vestiaire Collective for authentic second-hand luxury

Major players in the industry include Vestiaire Collective, worth $ 1.7 billion, with 550,000 new items going on sale per week. It is the market to which you may prefer to turn to find second-hand luxury, which can be authenticated by the company’s team of experts, which explains the important commission taken by the platform.

Won for fashion at low prices for the general public

While the average basket for a transaction is € 400 on Vestiaire Collective, it is more like € 20 for Vinted. Founded in 2008 but arrived in France in 2013, this much more popular Lithuanian site already has more than 16 million users in France (and 45 million worldwide).

The company now valued at 3.5 billion euros (up from 1 billion in 2019, a sign of its exponential growth, surprisingly led by the pandemic) makes it easy to find clothes and accessories for young and old, at low prices and reasonable commissions.

While it focuses on fashion, you can also find other items on the platform such as books, video games, dishes, or even decorations. It is a very easy to use, uncomplicated platform where you can find people of all ages, and not just fashion fans in their twenties who would only sell items that are almost too elegant for real life.

Depop for a young and gritty fashion

Precisely, Depop works a bit like a social network that sells second-hand fashion à la Vinted, but with a concentration of young fashion enthusiasts. The Etsy Craft Market just bought this English site, founded in 2005, for $ 1.63 billion, of which 90% of users are under 26. Inevitably, with such a young clientele, we mainly find dresses that cater to this age group, which is good to know.

LeBonCoin to save commissions and shipping costs

For the more courageous and adventurous, Le Bon Coin also allows you to buy and resell fashion, although for the moment it is not specialized in this. The big advantage of this ultra popular platform is that it doesn’t require any fees and there are no shipping costs. It may therefore be wise if you have a lot of time and energy for a fitting room sale to duplicate your ads: on a well-known fashion platform like Vinted or Depop and on LeBonCoin. And if a person is interested in a fashion platform, offer to finalize the transaction on Le Bon Coin.

Large second-hand garments over size 42

Although large sizes are easily found on Vinted, it often happens that thin people buy clothes voluntarily too large to resize them to their liking: for example, to create a cropped jacket and a matching miniskirt from a size 52 blazer. As creative and interesting as it is, this very popular practice, especially on TikTok where it is particularly linked to the hashtag #ThriftFlipping, unfortunately deprives many people of their full-sized clothes.

Tired of struggling to find her size, the French Noëmie Divet has therefore chosen to create her own platform dedicated to plus size second hand fashion, from size 42 to 62, La Grande Fripè. She recently explained Lose :

“In French fashion, even eco-responsible, there is little room for fat people. Although some brands are starting to play, they only offer sizes up to 48. That’s good already but it’s not enough.

When I look to the US and UK side, there are quite a few thrift stores dedicated entirely to plus sizes. I take inspiration from them to propose clothes that have survived decades and are often of better quality than those bought in fast fashion stores. “

Once upon a time, to dress babies, children and teenagers

Once upon a time there was a second-hand site founded by two mothers, well aware of how quickly it can become ruinous to dress children who have the annoying tendency to grow up too fast.

For nearly five years, the team has grown to collect, sort, sort, embellish and deliver better second-hand clothes and accessories for babies, children and teenagers (0-16 years). A good address to know to dress your family or resell the clothes of what will no longer be able to dress the little ones of your direct entourage. This also applies to children’s books!

Brands that offer their own second-hand section

Faced with this booming sector, many brands want to integrate their second hand section into their business model. This is particularly the case with consumer brands in physical and online stores like C&A (it’s called oC & Az and it took me a thousand years to understand the pun for “second hand”, I’m ashamed …) Kiabi and Decathlon, or just in stores like Pimkie.

As with premium and luxury labels, there is also a run on used items, such as Isabel Marant, Sandro, Balzac Paris, or even Aigle (who calls it Second Souffle).

The ba & sh brand proceeds differently: registered customers online can propose to resell a garment from their account and it is the platform itself (assisted by the technology developed with the specialized agencies in fashion tech Arianee and Reflaunt) that will show your ad on the websites of most popular ads. The Parisian department store Printemps is also working hard with its 7th corner of paradise. In short, you are spoiled for choice. Good luck negotiating all of this!

Front page photo credit: Depop