We all know that shopping second-hand is more sustainable than shopping fast fashion, but overconsumption can creep in on any type of purchase. Giant Shein hauls are bad enough, but it could be argued that splurging on Vinted may be just as bad. I’ve been using Vinted since 2023, so I know first-hand just how addictive the app can get.
Vinted is a secondhand shopping app known for being easy and safe to buy and sell on. Compared to its competitor Depop, it’s a much cheaper option for second-hand shopping online, with most tops being sold for £5 on average. Thanks to Gen Z on TikTok embracing secondhand fashion as the go-to eco-friendly way to shop, Vinted has shot to the top, overtaking Depop sales every year since 2019.
When social media comes into the picture, it can persuade us to impulsively buy stuff we never knew we needed. Impulse buys make up 40 – 80% of all purchases, meaning most people give in to the simple satisfaction of having another package on the way. A particularly persuasive video format online is the ‘Shopping Haul’- a video where users show what items they bought on their shopping sprees. The bigger the spree, the more views, engagement and FOMO felt by the viewer! Shein hauls are a hot topic, with 1.2M posts on the hashtag. These are usually composed of huge amounts of low-quality clothing following micro-trends that most likely won’t be in style in a few months. In general, these hauls can project that idea in people’s heads that they too need to go shopping.
Vinted is no stranger to this haul format with ‘#Vintedhaul’ having 126.8k videos. These videos cater to those favouring sustainability and vintage fashion, users showing off their unique finds on the app. Though part of sustainable shopping and buying second-hand is to find quality clothing that lasts long, some of these users doing massive hauls might be missing what sustainability is all about.
The growth around second-hand shopping has been influenced by the demand for certain clothing aesthetics on the Vintage and Y2K side. Many users have made their accounts centred around their Vinted hauls, for example TikTok users ‘@evepoppy6’, ‘@ozariagrace’ and ‘@ellierosebakerr’, thousands of users flocking to see what items they found, and how to find items like theirs. Showing a haul once in a while is not unhealthy, but purchasing in pursuit of content may lead to unhealthy shopping habits and overconsumption. Certainly as second-hand fashion can’t stay sustainable with how dynamic fashion trends can be and how often trends are thrown away.
A purchase on Vinted takes only two clicks, and because everything on there is so darn cheap, it’s often a guilt-free process. The algorithm of the app responds to you by tracking what items you view and curating a ‘recommended for you’ page with new items of your taste just a scroll away. The whole process of scrolling on social media involves a lot of anticipation of reward, that reward being the endless possibilities of finding cute new items in your style. Essentially it makes it super easy to wanna browse and thus- impulse buy.