Just when I thought I was out of Depop, the secondhand clothing platform has pulled me back in, with a message offering up to 40% off “blokecore”. I struggle to explain – even to myself – how or why I ended up regularly trespassing on a site where “90% of our active users are under 26”, and their preferred category of vintage is “Y2K”. Of my active wardrobe, 90% is Y2K – and the rest wishes it was.
But there’s something alluring about Depop. Partly, it’s an instant shot of youth, the kind you would pay many francs for in a Swiss clinic. Is that what the kids wear, I think, baffled but invigorated, looking at corset tops (“sooo stunning”) and acid-washed cargos (“insane”). It also feels like a force for good. The app’s popularity – $1bn (£940m) made to date by the Depop community – seems like a positive rejection of fast fashion. Of course, there is some buying and flipping of grimly unethical tat, but most sellers seem genuinely creative with, and excited by, old clothes.
