Depop: How an Ecommerce Boom Has Changed Fashion for Gen-Z A

Introduction

Depop, a Gen-Z thrifting phenomenon, has “140,000 items made available to 15 million customers” (Renwick). Originating as a start-up in London by Simon Beckerman, the company quickly spread worldwide due to its online platform. Spanning 147 countries with a daily 35 million users, Depop is clearly a commercial success. Formerly seen as simply a secondhand shopping website, Depop shocked retailers around the world when it was sold to Etsy for $1.6 billion (Ritch). The unique mixture of social media platform and online marketplace helped create a community of creatives and peers interested in fashion. Depop has begun a rapid shift in the fashion economy, from retailers holding all the power to a secondhand shopping frenzy, but it also changed how fashion is viewed and shared by Gen-Z. 

Globalization

Depop was able to spread so quickly due to its origin online, making it available to billions of people around the world with internet access. With users in more than 150 countries, the website has fueled the globalization of fashion, with one Depop seller saying, “International sales make up 30% of my total sales, if not more. I am consistently shipping to the US, Switzerland, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia [and] Australia, among others” (Antino). When users go to Depop’s homepage, they are greeted with words such as “Y2K” or “gorpcore,” which may not mean much to older generations, but to the younger generations around the world, they are understood to be fashion terms, further “creating a unified language of fashion among Gen Z” (Antini). Depop even utilizes algorithms to make sure these terms stay relevant, “collecting them into a folder in the app’s search page, to further cement the trend in the mainstream” (Antini). By doing this, Depop is selecting what they want to be trendy in fashion for people around the world, not just in the places the trend originated.

Cultural imperialism

Depop’s homepage displays what’s trending, and a pattern is easily noticeable. “Soccer jerseys,” “jorts,” “vintage denim,” and other Western fashion trends are highlighted on the page. It is rare to see any cultural pieces of clothing on this page, and that is because, despite being a worldwide marketplace, Depop is dominated by European or North American users, being popular “in Australia, Italy, the UK and US, with the last two countries responsible for about 70% of downloads in 2020 and 2021” (Curry).  This continues to push aside third-world countries and their fashion, perpetuating the domination of Western culture through fashion. Fashion, in its root, is a culturally expressive part of life. Fashion changes from culture to culture, but the same cannot be said for Depop, which highlights Western fashion despite having users all around the world.

Media ownership

Depop, started by Simon Beckerman, originally as a ecommerce start-up business in London, was recently bought by the American company Etsy in 2021. Etsy also functions as an online marketplace, serving consumers around the world. Despite being a worldwide company, Depop has headquarters only in North American and European regions, such as New York City, London, and Manchester. Both Etsy and Depop function as ecommerce websites, meaning there are no brick-and-mortar shops for these places and they work primarily online.

Medium as the Message

Depop is a “community-based company” according to their website, meaning there is a direct and interactive communication between consumers and sellers, following a transactional communication model that aims to and thrives on building relationships between these two parties. Depop, from its original founding, was aimed at making Gen-Z their primary consumer, so social media and a big online presence has always been their goal. The marketplace for creatives proved to be very appealing to Gen-Z with “over 90% of Depop sellers” being under the age of 26 (Curry). This shows that the social media approach that Depop took, and the unique relationships built between consumer and seller, has worked as they continue to dominate other secondhand shops such as The RealReal, who lack a strong social media presence and a big Gen-Z user base. Depop functions primarily as a website, but also as a mobile app, making the company available to anyone around the world who has access to the internet or a mobile device, meaning they are able to reach billions of people with simply a touch on their phone. 

Depop is a London based company, so English is the primary language of the website, despite it being available worldwide, which would explain English-speaking countries dominating the website as sellers and consumers. Google Trends shows that all of the countries who are in the top 10 for interaction with the Depop company on the internet are in Europe, North America, or Oceania, highlighting what cultures dominate the website (Google Trends). Depop’s medium, from its origin, has always been the internet, which could explain how it was able to grow so rapidly.

Analysis of Representation/"isms"

Depop is so popular because it is giving Gen-Z a chance to be sustainable, giving resellers an opportunity to take clothes out of thrift stores and present them to a larger audience, but many resellers are not seeing the direct effects this has on thrift stores themselves. Thrift stores around the country are raising their prices, making formerly affordable clothes now unaffordable. A thrift store’s main audience is those who cannot afford the clothing made available in shopping malls or retailers, they are not meant to provide inventory for resellers. By limiting the number of high-quality, affordable clothing in thrift stores, Depop’s re-selling aspect is classist, making the lives of impoverished people that much harder. 

Depop has been pointed out as being unethical because it is undeniably gentrifying thrift stores. “Notorious for marking up prices beyond their recommended retail price (RRP), the Depop economy has completely reconfigured the concept of accessibility” (Brown). Depop sellers find most of their inventory from thrift shops, which can carry average prices of $4-$15, but on Depop, “vintage” jackets can go for up to $80, most t-shirts averaging $15-$20. It is undeniable that Depop sellers mark up their inventory, and while sellers can plead supply-and-demand, it is unarguably taking high-quality clothing out of thrift stores, which is where many people shop for their own livelihood, not to make profits online. As some critics say, “What may be one person’s overpriced clutter could easily be another individual’s means of survival” (Brown). While Depop might be good for the environment, the gentrification of secondhand shopping, especially with its rapid increase predicted in the coming years, can prove to be harmful for lower-income people around the world. 

Role of the Internet

Depop was founded in 2011, a time period where technology was already starting to become pervasive in Western society. People owned cellphones, laptops, and all sorts of personal technological devices. Depop was founded as a website, soon becoming an app, so it started off with all the right steps for reaching a large audience. Due to its strong internet presence, Depop spread rapidly from its origin in London to all around Europe and America. Depop, being a website, reaches many people every day, with about “140,000 new listings every day,” but most of these only depict a few cultures’ clothing (Renwick). 

Conclusion

Depop is a rapidly-growing ecommerce company who has goals of sustainability in fashion and creating a community for youths with similar interests. Their open marketplace-style company is great at creating relationships for many Gen-Z creatives, but there are many problems with the way Depop has changed the fashion industry. Unethical resellers who price cheaply-sourced but high-quality clothing from thrift stores have now stripped those stores of the affordable clothing they are supposed to provide for, sometimes underprivileged, people who rely on them. Additionally, European and American fashion dominates the website, perpetuating the dominance of Western culture over other those found elsewhere in the world. Depop has continued to make fashion unethical, but it has also led to the growth in trends now found around the world to match Western fashion. As the website continues to grow, and as the reselling economy continues to expand year after year, the gentrification, imperialism, and unethicalness of Depop needs to be addressed.

Works Cited

Antino, Grace. "How Depop Is Globalizing Gen Z Fashion Culture, and What Retail Brands Can Learn." d1a.com, 15 March 2023,  https://d1a.com/perspective/how-depop-is-globalizing-gen-z-fashion-culture-and-what-retail-brands-can-learn .

Curry, David. "Depop Statistics." Business of Apps, 8 January 2024, https://www.businessofapps.com/data/depop-statistics/.

Graham-Brown, Hannah. "The Political Economy of Depop: Exploring the Gentrification of Thrifting." Foreign Affairs Review, 20 March 2024, https://www.foreignaffairsreview.com/home/the-political-economy-of-depop-exploring-the-gentrification-of-thrifting.

Renwick, Finlay. "What is Depop and How Does It Work?" Esquire, 24 July 2020, https://www.esquire.com/uk/style/a33414436/depop/.

Ritch, Elaine L. "Depop sale: Fashion retailers must move faster on sustainability – or they will be replaced by Gen Z apps." Business Reporter, n.d., https://www.business-reporter.co.uk/management/depop-sale-fashion-retailers-must-move-faster-on-sustainability--or-they-will-be-replaced-by-gen-z-apps.