Everything You Need To Know About Depop
The popularity of secondhand shopping has grown tremendously in recent years. Shoppers are drawn toward secondhand clothes for a variety of reasons, ranging from an interest in vintage or more unique clothes, to cheaper prices, to environmental concerns. Depop has made a name for itself as a popular—albeit notorious—way to shop secondhand.
Depop is an app for people to buy and sell clothes. It’s similar in function to services like Poshmark and ThredUp, with the primary difference being that Depop holds more of a focus on vintage clothing. Depop users have also expressed a preference for the app’s interface and usability. Due to the growing popularity of the app, established clothing brands such as Anna Sui and Rodarte have taken to selling clothes from their archives on Depop. It’s clear that the app has become a well-loved and efficient platform for people to sell their old clothes for an easy profit or to buy unique vintage items.
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But the controversy surrounding Depop has been growing. In particular, users have complained about the overpricing of items. Many sellers have come under fire for paying low prices for clothing at thrift shops and reselling those clothes for a much higher price. For instance, both buyers and sellers have reported clothing originally bought for $2 or $3 a piece being resold for upwards of $50. Buyers often justify these prices by claiming that the process of selecting, purchasing, listing, and shipping these items is time-consuming and takes a great deal of effort. Clothes with visible damage and stains are also often marketed as being worth a lot of money using keywords such as “rare,” “deadstock,” or Y2K to justify their degraded nature.
Critics of this process of reselling are particularly outraged because they view this as the gentrification of secondhand clothing. Many of the clothes resold on Depop were bought at thrift stores that serve families who may not be able to afford to shop elsewhere. Especially concerning is that a good percentage of these clothes are children’s clothes marketed toward teenagers and adults as “baby tees” or “crop tops.” Furthermore, many thrift shops like Goodwill have been suspected of marking up their prices due to the high amounts of people reselling their clothes at much higher prices online. This TikTok by user @vampir3tearz is one of many posts on a variety of platforms, including Instagram and Twitter, that have taken to criticism of Depop.
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Despite the controversy surrounding Depop, it can still be a useful tool. Taking advantage of the app’s filters can be incredibly helpful. In particular, using the price filter to limit the search to clothes under $10-20 often filters out resellers who mark up their prices, leaving primarily people who are just trying to clear out their closets at a highly discounted price. Furthermore, Depop is a great marketplace for custom clothes. Many users sell a variety of custom painted, embroidered, or embellished pieces, such as sneakers, purses, jeans, and jewelry. Taking advantage of these custom clothes as well as the ability to search for specific quirky items of interest (such as a frog-shaped hat or a watermelon-shaped purse) can allow users to diversify their closets with some fun, unique pieces. When navigated carefully, Depop is a great resource for selling and buying secondhand clothing.
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