CP On: Does Vinted's Recent Arrival in Australia Mean We Can Finally Compete With the Northern Hemisphere's Vintage Style?
The Lithuanian retailer's local launch exposes why secondhand shopping here is rarely the affordable, accessible alternative to fast fashion it's meant to be.
Have you ever browsed a rack of inner-city 'vintage' or consignment clothing and thought… "this seems kind of expensive?"
Back in 2014, when I first moved to Melbourne and was a poor uni student, vintage shopping in Melbourne's inner north was a way to play around with style without participating in fast fashion. A lot of the clothes I bought at that time in my life still hang in my wardrobe — suede biker jackets that would sell for ten times the price now, and were cheaper than the synthetic alternative from Zara at the time.
On a recent trip to Italy, I was reminded of the point of vintage or secondhand shopping — to make luxury brands and well-made clothes accessible to people who couldn't necessarily afford them new: 100 percent wool jumpers, leather coats, the kind of rigid denim that looks even better after a couple hundred wears.
There's no two ways about it: the supply and demand of vintage fashion in Australia has made us accustomed to high price points; more often than not, it's not even cheaper than the brand-new alternative — so what's even the point? Is it worth it? Or are we just being price-gouged for clothing that's no better (in terms of construction and design) than current-season fast fashion?
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When Lithuanian resale unicorn Vinted arrived in Australia on 1 July, it gave the Australian market (at long last) the key to European vintage resellers. The retailer launched with zero seller fees and a three-year prepaid shipping partnership with Australia Post built straight into the app — thus, the low-competition, high-demand cycle Aussies had been stuck in finally began to show some cracks. In response to the launch, Depop (which eBay acquired from Etsy on 30 July, in a roughly $1.4 billion deal) scrapped its 10 percent Australian seller fee — its first fee-structure change since launch here .
A quick search on Vinted revealed the same item (same label, same condition) listed for a fraction of the price you'd see at Australian resellers. For instance, I bought a red cashmere Burberry scarf from a European seller for $40.86; on eBay Australia, pre-owned versions run $140 to $220 — scroll further, and you'll find scarves still tagged, never worn, resold at $400 to $750.
Competition, per the ACCC, "leads to lower prices and more choice for consumers" and "inspires better quality products and services" — which pretty much sums up why it's been so bloody hard to get a good deal on vintage in Australia for the better part of a decade. Hopefully, we'll now be able to compete with our Euro and UK counterparts on well-made, archival-fit checks (without breaking the bank).
A reminder before you start shopping: where possible, read the label — what it's made of, where it's made, and a little of the brand's own history will tell you more about whether a price is fair than the word "vintage" ever will.
Images: Supplied
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