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

There are many initiatives to shop second-hand online. Here is a non-exhaustive list of sites that are worth the detour and their specificities!

December 31, 2021

For many people, second-hand clothing is nothing new. For others, it would almost be a recent trend. Whatever the reasons, the fact remains that this practice has many advantages for the personal wallet, but also for the planet, as long as you don't shop there at the same pace as fast-fashion, which is unfortunately a growing drift, as we talked about in the episode dedicated to the second hand of the podcast Matières Premieres.

Overall, the second-hand market is only growing. In France, it generated 7 billion euros in 2019, including one billion just for textiles, according to a study by Xerfi for the French Institute of Fashion (IFM), quoted by the FashionUnited.fr media.

According to research firm Bostong Consulting Group, the global second-hand clothing market is estimated at $40 billion in 2019. Only 2% of the total clothing market, but with growth maddening 15 to 20% planned for the next five years!

Vestiaire Collective for authentic second-hand luxury

Major players in the sector include Vestiaire Collective, valued at $1.7 billion, with 550,000 new items put up for sale by week. It is the marketplace to which one may prefer to turn to find second-hand luxury, which can be authenticated by the company's team of experts, which explains the significant commission taken by the platform.

Vinted for fashion at low prices for the general public

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

The company, now valued at 3.5 billion euros (compared to 1 billion in 2019, a sign of its exponential growth, surprisingly driven by the pandemic) makes it easy to find clothing and accessories for young and old, at affordable prices. pokey and reasonable commission.

Even if it focuses on fashion, you can also find other items on the platform such as books, video games, tableware and decoration. It's a very easy-to-use platform, without the fuss, 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 sharp for the real life.

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Depop for young and cutting-edge fashion

Precisely, Depop works a bit like a social network selling second-hand fashion à la Vinted, but with a concentration of young fashion fans. The craft marketplace Etsy has just bought this British site, founded in 2005, for $1.63 billion, of which 90% of users are under 26 years old. Inevitably, with such a young clientele, we mainly find clothes that appeal to this age group, which is good to know.

LeBonCoin to save commission and shipping costs

For the most courageous and adventurous people, Le Bon Coin also allows you to buy and resell fashion, even if it doesn't is not specialized for this at the moment. The big advantage of this ultra popular platform is that it does not take a commission, and that there are no shipping costs. It may therefore be wise if you have a lot of time and energy for a dressing room sale to duplicate your ads: on a well-known fashion platform such as Vinted or Depop, and on LeBonCoin. And if a person is interested on a fashion platform, to offer to finalize the transaction on Le Bon Coin.

Large clothes for second-hand clothes above size 42

Even if on Vinted, it is quite easy to find large sizes, it often happens that thin people buy clothes deliberately a lot too big to resize them as they wish: for example, create a cropped jacket and matching mini-skirt set from a size 52 blazer. As creative and interesting as it is, this very popular practice, especially on TikTok where it is particularly attached to the hashtag #ThriftFlipping, unfortunately deprives many people of clothes in their true size.

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

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

Once upon a time is a second-hand site founded by two mothers, well aware of how quickly it can becoming ruinous to dress children who have the unfortunate tendency to grow up much too quickly.

For nearly five years, the team has been growing to better collect, sort, select, embellish, and deliver second-hand clothes and accessories for babies, children, and teenagers (from 0 to 16 years old). A good address to know to dress your own family or resell the clothes of what will no longer be able to dress the toddlers of your direct entourage. This is even valid for children's books!

Brands that offer their own second-hand section

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

As for premium and luxury labels, there is also a rush for second-hand clothes, such as Isabel Marant, Sandro, Balzac Paris, or even Aigle (who call it Second Souffle).

The ba&sh brand proceeds in a different way: customers registered online can offer to resell an item from their account and it is the platform itself (helped by technology developed with agencies specializing in tech fashion Arianee and Reflaunt) which will propose your ad on the most popular ad sites. Even the Parisian department store Printemps is getting involved with its 7th heaven corner. In short, you are spoiled for choice. Good luck negotiating all of this!

Also read: TikTok predicts the fashion trends of 2022: Space Age, survivalism, and… ballerinas

Photo credit of Front page: Depop