Second-hand is Replacing New in Wardrobes Across Europe, According to Vinted’s Latest Impact Report
- In 2023 alone, Vinted members helped avoid 679 kilotonnes of CO2e by buying second-hand instead of new.
- Two-thirds (65%) of Vinted members have a quarter or more of their wardrobes made up of second-hand items.
- The vast majority (84%) of Vinted buyers find the quality of second-hand items bought on Vinted as good or even better than new items.
Vinted, the leading C2C second-hand fashion in Europe, is transforming wardrobes across the continent. According to its latest Impact Report second-hand is becoming a core part of our wardrobes. The report not only reminds that second-hand is better than new both for the climate and members’ finances, but also gives a unique insight into second-hand consumption habits.
According to the report, which is based on research with over 100.000 members combining an independent analysis conducted by climate tech start-up Vaayu, as well as Vinted’s own research, second-hand has become firmly embedded in the consumption habits of Vinted members. Almost two-thirds (65%) of Vinted members say a quarter or more of the items in their wardrobe are second-hand. And, for over a third (37%) of Vinted members, second-hand already makes up half of their wardrobe or more. Leading the way are Germany, France, Poland, and the UK, where more than 40% of members report that over half of their wardrobe consists of second-hand finds.
As well as converting their wardrobes to second-hand, members also report a change in consumption more broadly. Almost three out of four (72%) buy fewer or the same number of items as before, and for many (31%) of them their purchases now consist of more second-hand instead of new items. The majority (65%) of Vinted buyers state they prefer to buy fewer, expensive, and lasting fashion items rather than higher volumes of cheap items. Only a small group of members (18%), report having bought something on Vinted because they were browsing and liked the item. In France, this group is even smaller, with 12% of ‘spontaneous buyers’.
Thomas Plantenga, CEO of Vinted Group: “Our Impact Report shows second-hand has the potential to become the first choice across Europe. Our members are already seeing the benefits in their daily lives. These findings encourage us to continue to invest in making second-hand easy and accessible to everyone in society. However, despite this positive trend, second-hand remains a very small part of the fashion market. Thus there is lots of work and potential ahead of us. We are motivated to make second-hand truly the first choice, as it will benefit the environment and at the same time bring billions of sales from our members directly back into the economy. We are privileged to be in a position where we can both strengthen the financial position of our members while improving the impact they have on the environment at scale.”
According to the report, the main motivation for Vinted members to choose second-hand over new is that it’s great value for money: almost half (48%) chose to buy a second-hand item because the price was lower than new. And that does not mean compromising on quality; the vast majority (84%) of Vinted buyers find the quality of second-hand items bought on Vinted as good or even better than new items.
Knowing fashion items can get a second or even third life, or many more, also inspires members to take better care of their clothes. Over a third (36%) of Vinted members tend to take better care of their clothes, because they can resell them later on Vinted. The platform has empowered millions to become second-hand sellers, with 81% stating they wouldn't have engaged in resale without Vinted.
In terms of climate impact, the research from Vaayu shows that Vinted members helped avoid 679 kilotonnes of CO2e by buying second-hand instead of new in 2023 alone - the equivalent of approximately 512k flights between London and Los Angeles. Two-fifths (40%) of transactions on Vinted avoided the purchase of a new item, meaning they avoided the emissions needed to produce new items.
When it comes to reducing emissions from its own operations, Vinted has submitted Science-Based targets with the Science-Based Targets initiative. These targets help to meet the goals set out in the Paris Agreement: to reach net zero by 2050 and limit global warming to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels. Vinted’s Climate Action Plan describes how the company plans to meet these targets.
Marianne Gybels, Senior Director of Sustainability at Vinted:
“With this report, we’ve extended our focus beyond carbon emissions, to quantify our effect on members’ lives and their consumption habits. We are starting to see the wider impact resale has on people’s shopping habits, which is promising for the climate. These insights will help us to further develop our sustainability strategy and increase the positive impact of trading second-hand. At the same time, we're working hard to reduce the emissions from our own operations. We believe these two things should go hand-in-hand."
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1.Vinted’s Impact Report is a study based on an independent analysis conducted by climate tech start-up Vaayu with 94.4k members in France, Spain, UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Italy, as well as its own research with a representative Vinted buyers population of 13k members.
2. This number is from the Vaayu survey or Vinted's research among its members—even if this specific number related to France does not appear in the final Impact Report.
3. We let our members define what quality meant to them in our research. This seems more important than an external definition. Quality is subjective; it depends on your opinions of brands and materials.