It’s no secret that secondhand shopping online is on the rise. According to thredUP’s 2022 Resale Report, the secondhand apparel market experienced a record amount of growth in 2021, and by 2024 it is expected that “50% of total secondhand dollars will come from online resale.” As Depop and other popular resale sites continue to grow and dominate the marketplace, many have begun to question the ethics of resale and wonder if the trend toward reselling is becoming a new avenue for overconsumption.
Many believe that sites like Depop make secondhand fashion less accessible. Depop, unlike some other resale sites like Vestiaire Collective, does not regulate the prices that sellers set. Although the company argues that this allows for creative control, many feel like this has allowed sellers to unfairly overprice items that they bought for much less at a thrift store. They argue that middle and upper-class sellers not only take away from people with low income that have no other option but that thrift store but also those of low income that would want to shop online. When buying secondhand online becomes too expensive, some claim that this leads people to fast-fashion brands for the clothes they desire at a price they can afford.
Overpricing aside, many take issue with the relationship between overconsumption and the trend toward resale. TikTok creators have faced backlash for posting “thrift hauls” advertising new drops on their Depop, which seems to promote the need to continue to add more to your closet. A thrift haul in itself is not problematic, but creators have been criticized for excessive amounts of hauls. Resale sites like Depop and Etsy also face concerns about sellers dropshipping from unsustainable brands like AliExpress. Of course, this is not the fault of the company itself, but it does beg the question of whether reselling curbs overconsumption or added fuel to the fire.
Despite these reasonable concerns, I am not trying to push you away from participating in online resale. While some argue resale sites are taking away accessibility, many others argue the opposite, and that these sites do more good than harm. While resellers might be sourcing from thrift stores, many believe that they are widening the pool of participants in sustainability through secondhand fashion. People that might have turned away from spending hours searching through the racks of a thrift store now have secondhand fashion at their fingertips. Furthermore, resellers argue that because of the excess of clothes in thrift stores, buying hauls of clothing is beneficial to the community. In fact, up to 90% of clothing at the thrift store ends up going to textile recyclers, who usually end up sending a portion of that to small African villages, which devastates their local market. A push toward more thrifting, even if it ends up on a resale site, could curb this impact.
Although reselling has its negative side, an effort to focus on sustainability rather than the profit could create a better environment for all who participate. When reselling, just be mindful. Let’s make reselling fair for everyone.
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