Depop Gentrification: Has it made the app unsustainable?
BY SANJANA RAO
Depop is an online marketplace which was designed to allow people to sell unwanted or old clothes and accessories. In recent years, Depop’s popularity has surged and it now has over 21 million users. Depop has grown in size partly due to the rising concern of fast fashion and people looking for a more sustainable way to buy clothes. Depop’s popularity has also led to many using it as an online platform to grow their clothing and accessory brands.
For years, Depop was a great platform for affordable, sustainable clothing and was useful for those on low incomes to find good quality clothing at low prices.
However, what started off as a platform for people to sell unwanted clothes has turned into a vicious app where Depop resellers try to make high profits by exploiting trends.
What is Depop gentrification?
Gentrification is defined as “a process in which a poor area (as of a city) experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people who renovate and rebuild homes and businesses and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents”.
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Whilst gentrification is originally an economic term, it can easily be applied to the changes that have taken place on Depop. Depop was originally formed to enable people to buy cheap clothing in a sustainable way but the growth of its popularity led to an influx of middle-class and wealthy users who have used the app as a way to make a profit. There are numerous ways Depop has been gentrified.
The most common form of Depop gentrification is when sellers bulk buy cheap clothing from places like charity shops or shops targeted towards low income individuals (such as TKMaxx) and then sell these clothes at a marked-up price.
Another major problem Depop has been the inflation of prices, especially when a specific piece becomes trendy. For example, recently the brown North Face puffer jacket has surged in popularity. This has led to Depop resellers inflating the price of the jacket. If you search ‘brown North Face puffer’ on Depop you can find jackets being sold for prices ranging from £325 to £600. These prices are highly inflated due to their high demand.
Why is Depop gentrification a problem?
The biggest concern about Depop gentrification is that it has turned Depop from a platform which was accessible, affordable and sustainable to a platform which is focused on selling clothing for high profits using methods which can be unethical.
Many people turned to Depop to get away from the cycle of fast fashion. Fast fashion has been a major factor in climate change due to the waste it produces. It is also a highly unethical way of producing clothing, fast fashion brands such as Pretty Little Thing, Missguided and BooHoo produce garments in incredibly short timeframes to keep up with trends. In order to produce garments so quickly workers tend to be exploited in various ways such as poor working conditions and low wages. However, fast fashion is cheap and often there are sales or discounts codes advertised to entice consumers into buying fast fashion.
Depop offered an escape from fast fashion. People would sell clothes that did not fit them or that they no longer wanted at reasonable prices. This would stop clothes being returned to fast fashion companies where returned clothes can end up in landfills. Sellers looked to get back the money they had spent on the garment or make a small profit.
The gentrification of Depop is unethical due to the fact that it disproportionately affects low income individuals and families.
Depop resellers tend to bulk buy cheap trendy clothing from places like charity shops for low prices and resell them on Depop for a higher price. Charity shops are vital for those in low incomes and bulk buying by Depop resellers means there is less choice. Some charity shops and thrift shops have also realised what Depop resellers are doing and have tried to raise the price of clothing, this means it is no longer affordable for those on low incomes to shop in charity shops.
In summer 2020, during the first coronavirus lockdown in the UK, the Slazenger skort became a trendy clothing item and it was cheap. On a sports website, you can buy two Slazenger kids skorts for £14, and soon shops began to sell out of the skorts.
Depop resellers realised how popular the skorts were and once they came into stock would bulk buy the garment to sell it at a higher price. A quick search on Depop shows a kids Slazenger skort being sold for £15. This clearly alienates low income individuals who wanted to buy a cheap trendy piece of clothing.
During the coronavirus pandemic, millions of people have lost jobs or been put on furlough where they may not be receiving their full pay check. Due to Depop gentrification and inflation of prices on Depop, many people struggling for money are unable to find cheap, sustainable clothing on the platform.
Depop gentrification has turned a platform that was meant for low income individuals, into a platform they can no longer afford to shop from. It has turned Depop into a platform that is no longer accessible for low income individuals. Clothes are no longer affordable, especially if they become trendy, and the practices used to gather clothing to sell by Depop sellers may not actually be sustainable and are often unethical.
Depop gentrification has alienated those who it was made for.
