Vinted Impact Report 2023: Second-hand replaces new clothes in Europe

Second-hand fashion is becoming increasingly important to European consumers.

In its latest ‘Impact Report’, second-hand platform Vinted has analysed the place that used clothing is taking up in people’s wardrobes and gives insights into consumer behaviour in the second-hand category. These are based on a survey of around 100,000 members of Berlin-based climate tech company Vaayu and 13,000 Vinted users.

Large part of wardrobe consists of second-hand clothing

Second-hand items now make up a considerable proportion of Vinted members’ wardrobes: Around 65 percent of respondents reported that at least a quarter of their clothes are second-hand; 37 percent even have a wardrobe that consists of half or more second-hand fashion. Germany, France, Poland and the UK are at the top of the list: Over 40 percent of members from these countries state that second-hand finds make up more than half of their wardrobe.

Changing consumer behaviour

Consumers’ shopping behaviour seems to go beyond the second-hand sector and extend to general categories: Almost three quarters of respondents stated that they were buying fewer items than before, and just under a third now buy second-hand items more often than new ones. A clear majority (65 percent) of Vinted shoppers say they prefer to buy fewer but more expensive and durable fashion items.

Vinted already revealed which premium items are of particular interest to European customers in its “Luxury Trend Update”. This means that they have declared war on fast fashion items. Only a small group of members make spontaneous purchases on Vinted because they have found items they like while browsing – in France, these make up around twelve percent.

Motivation: Value for money

The main motivation for Vinted members to buy second-hand is value for money. Almost half of those surveyed decide to buy second-hand items because they are generally cheaper than new items. The quality of older items is also convincing. Around 84 percent find the quality of these purchased items to be equally good or even better. According to the report, second-hand shoppers also take better care of their goods as they can potentially sell them later.

“Our ‘Impact Report’ shows that second-hand has the potential to become the first choice across Europe,” said Vinted Group CEO Thomas Plantenga. “Our members are already seeing the benefits in their daily lives. These results encourage us to continue investing to make second-hand more accessible to everyone in society. Despite this positive trend, second-hand is still a small part of the fashion market. So there is still a lot of work and potential ahead of us.”

Climate impact

Vaayu’s study also shows that members of the second-hand platform saved around 680 kilotonnes of CO2 in 2023 alone by buying used items instead of new ones. Forty percent of transactions made there resulted in avoiding new purchases and thus the emissions required to produce a new item of clothing. According to Marianne Gybels, Senior Director of Sustainability at Vinted, the expansion of the report to include carbon emissions will provide insights to further develop the company’s sustainability strategy. “We are starting to understand the impact that resale has on people’s buying habits, and that is promising for the climate.”