Secondhand clothing is replacing new garments in some European closets, Vinted found.
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The secondhand European fashion firm’s latest impact report confirmed that secondhand is not only better than new for both the climate and members’ pockets, but also revealed unique insights into secondhand consumption habits .
“With this report, we’ve extended our focus beyond carbon emissions to quantify our effect on members’ lives and their consumption habits,” said Marianne Gybels, Vinted’s senior director of sustainability. “We are starting to see the wider impact resale has on people’s shopping habits , which is promising for the climate.”
The Lithuanian-based marketplace ’s report is based on research with more than 100,000 members combined with independent analysis conducted by climate tech startup, Vaayu , as well as Vinted’s own research. And per this study, secondhand has become “firmly embedded” in the consumption habits of Vinted members. Almost two-thirds (65 percent) of respondents said a quarter or more of their closet is secondhand, while over a third (37 percent) said secondhand already makes up more than half of the items in their wardrobe.
“Our impact report shows secondhand has the potential to become the first choice across Europe. Our members are already seeing the benefits in their daily lives. These findings encourage us to continue to invest in making secondhand easy and accessible to everyone in society,” said Thomas Plantenga , CEO of Vinted Group. “However, despite this positive trend, secondhand remains a very small part of the fashion market. Thus, there’s lots of work and potential ahead of us. We are motivated to make secondhand truly the first choice, as it will benefit the environment and, at the same time, bring billions of sales from our members directly back into the economy. We are privileged to be in a position where we can both strengthen the financial position of our members while improving the impact they have on the environment at scale.”
More interestingly, members also divulged a difference in consumption more broadly. Almost three out of four (72 percent) buy fewer or the same number of garments as they did before joining Vinted. For 31 percent, purchases now consist of more secondhand items instead of new ones. Overall, 65 percent of respondents said they prefer to buy fewer, more expensive and lasting fashion items over a higher volume of cheap goods .
The primary motivation for choosing new over old, per the report, is that it’s a better value . Nearly half (48 percent) decided to buy a secondhand item because the price was lower than if it was new. Only 19 percent of members said they shop secondhand because they want to make a conscious decision. The platform counts millions of users, with 81 percent stating they wouldn’t have engaged in resale without Vinted.
And that’s completely fine, Gybels said; if the main motivation for shopping secondhand is money, it doesn’t really matter.
“We make the sustainable choice the better choice by making it the good price, same ease and same selection as you would be able to buy new,” she explained. “It’s just providing that proper alternative to new, not because I should care, but because it’s the better choice for me overall. I think that’s the biggest lever we’ve got; making the sustainable alternative also the best choice overall for consumers.”
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However, this doesn’t mean consumers compromise on quality; 84 percent of Vinted buyers found the quality—the definition of which was up to their own interpretation—of secondhand items purchased on the resale site as good or better than new.
“We want to compare the quality of secondhand to the quality of new and what you consider—your perception of ‘quality’—very much depends on what’s, ultimately, in your closet,” Gybels said. “We didn’t give a definition of quality, but we said, compared to the quality of what you normally buy new, how do you consider, now, the quality of the secondhand item to be—and that’s ultimately what we’re trying to achieve, right? We’re trying to become a viable alternative to new, according to your way of shopping.”
Vinted also found that once members realized that fashion items could get a second or third life—via Vinted or elsewhere—they took better care of their clothing. Over a third (36 percent) of members are conscientious of this, thinking of reselling the items on Vinted whenever they reach the end of their useful life for that individual.
“These insights will help us further develop our sustainability strategy and increase the positive impact of trading secondhand,” Gybels said. “At the same time, we’re working hard to reduce the emissions from our own operations. We believe these two things should go hand-in-hand.”
In fact, more than 675,000 tons of carbon emissions were avoided in 2023 by shopping secondhand on Vinted instead. That’s the equivalent of flying between London and Los Angeles more than 500,000 times. However, between Vinted’s 2021 and 2023 impact reports, the marketplace saw an increase in emissions per delivery due to an update in Vaayu’s 2023 calculating models for the volume of individual parcels. Thus, the resale site has developed an action plan to reduce emissions, created in line with climate science.
Vinted has committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2050, primarily focusing on its own logistics operations, as the biggest proportion of emissions comes from deliveries . To address that, the company is promoting pick-up point deliveries, using electric vans and transitioning to renewable electricity .
“I think climate investment is needed, 100 percent. But we want to control where we have the most control. We want to make sure that, any money we invest in the right climate technology, is the right one. We’d rather put the resources where we can make a long-term investment in decarbonizing the logistics industry [versus] offsetting and not investing in the industry. We need to actually innovate. We’re a company who wants to make a profit; we have to be diligent on where we put our resources. I’d rather put funds toward the innovations that are needed to decarbonize than put them somewhere else offsetting by planting trees.”
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