Are Vinted and Depop just a type of fast fashion under a greener guise?

Are platforms like Vinted and Depop encouraging a more sustainable future, or simply enabling the same overconsumption under a greener guise? Holly Warren investigates 

Keziah Platt, with some of her vintage stock. Picture: Moya Nolan

In a remarkable shift for fashion retail, Vinted, the Lithuanian-born secondhand fashion app, has dethroned Amazon, Shein, and H&M as France’s most visited retail site. Depop, another resale giant, is equally embedded in youth style culture, with upwards of 30m users and strong influence in the Gen Z aesthetic.

What was once a domain of thrifters and vintage lovers has now become a major industry itself. The rise of these platforms is being hailed as a revolution in fashion consumption, proof that we’re rethinking our habits in light of the climate crisis and textile waste.