Lithium Magazine
  • Home
  • About
    • Editors
    • Writers
    • Artists
    • Photographers
  • Contact
    • Work With Us
  • Events
  • Shop
  • Read
    • Sex & Love
    • Culture & Entertainment
    • News & Politics
    • Life
    • Photography
Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Followers
Followers
Lithium Magazine
Lithium Magazine
  • Home
  • About
    • Editors
    • Writers
    • Artists
    • Photographers
  • Contact
    • Work With Us
  • Events
  • Shop
  • Read
    • Sex & Love
    • Culture & Entertainment
    • News & Politics
    • Life
    • Photography
  • Fashion & Beauty

Depop Sellers Aren’t Doing the Dirty Work of Capitalism

  • March 18, 2021
  • No comments
  • 5 minute read
  • Emma Johnston-Wheeler

It’s an understatement to say that thrifting has seen a huge shift in popularity in the last decade. In the last year, especially, the pandemic has saturated the thrift landscape even more on Instagram, Depop, Etsy, and Poshmark. 

So where are all these curators sourcing their products, and how is this practice changing the thrift landscape for consumers? 

One popular opinion amidst internet discourse is that vintage reselling is an unethical, privileged practice, taking affordable clothing options away from low-income communities.

But Depop seller Hannah Valentine believes that this argument is too generalized. Valentine, who was voted Depop’s most influential seller of 2020, posted an infographic on her Instagram account last July, entitled “Why Thrifting is Completely Ethical.” She makes the point that thrift resellers give rejected pieces a second chance at life.

And that’s not all. Resellers continue to offer nuance to the conversation—promoting slow fashion practices and encouraging consumers to reconsider where they place their blame. Many feel that thrift curation can be done ethically if certain factors are taken into consideration, such as accessibility, inclusivity, and a sourcing practice that prioritizes quality over quantity. Here’s what they have to say.

Teaunna Gray is the owner of the vintage Depop and Instagram shop @sunday______afternoon. She aims to distinguish herself from other resellers by selling high-quality pieces with thoughtful affection, sourcing beautifully crafted pieces rather than catering to trends.

When Gray launched Sunday Afternoon, she asked her friends and family not to link her personal account to the shop. “It felt important for me to kind of blend in at the time, and work on building a quality brand. I wasn’t seeing many shops owned by women of color at the time,” she says.

Then she saw a post circulate during the Black Lives Matters protests that asked secondhand shop owners of color to show their faces and post selfies. She realized that there were all kinds of small-business owners across America whose identities hadn’t been previously advertised alongside their brand. “When I saw that post, I was like, ‘Oh my god, screw this,’” she says. “I’m proud of what I’ve built and hopefully I can act as an inspiration to people who look like me to find passion in this work and in sustainable fashion.”

When talking about her sourcing process, Gray muses, “I price based on the material, the era [the piece] is from, and how hard it is to come by.” As a twin sister raised by a single mom, she says that thrifting was an affordable way for her to buy clothes as a child. Her goal is to offer her community the same by pricing as honestly and realistically as possible.

“A rule of thumb with buying is that you should try to earn 2.2% more than what you pay for it,” says Olivia Haroutounian, Texas-based owner of the popular Depop shop @reallifeasliv, who was recently profiled in Vogue.

Haroutounian exclusively sells rare designer vintage, but still tries to keep her pieces as affordable as possible. She started selling clothes in 2016 to pay her college tuition, and now sources pieces from private estate sales and auctions. Despite an increasing demand, a number of her products remain listed at under $100. 

Perhaps because Depop is Haroutounian’s sole source of income, she maintains a realistic perception of cost and value. “I don’t come from a family that has a ton of money,” she explains. As a child, her mother sold vintage clothing to pay the bills. “There weren’t people doing this—people made fun of me for wearing secondhand clothing.” 

Haroutounian argues that a lot more secondhand clothing is going into landfills than people realize. “There’s always clothes coming in. I see the back room of most of these places,” she notes. Even privately owned warehouses waste a lot of clothing because of how much supply they get, but these are now becoming popular sourcing destinations for resellers—meaning more clothes at the end of the line are being given another chance.

Mia Tran is the owner of Toronto Instagram shop @thevintageladybug. On the topic of sourcing, she notes, “A lot of these thrift sellers on Instagram actually have their own wholesaler. They order in bulk and there ends up being a lot of leftovers that they wouldn’t sell in their store, but maybe that I can sell in mine.” Tran explains that resellers can order clothes in bulk to save money, but they won’t know what they’ve ordered until they get it. Instead of discarding the clothes, they often sell unwanted pieces to other resellers at quote wholesale prices—“maybe $10-15 a piece.” This way, the clothes are continuously given another chance to find a long-term home in someone’s wardrobe. 

“At the end of the day, I think it’s a bit of a shame that blame goes to the shoppers,” says Erica Black, owner of real-life brick-and-mortar vintage shop Wild Thing Vintage in Toronto. Black has owned her business for about ten years.

I asked Black her thoughts on the recent saturation of resellers online, and she endorsed their ethicality—noting that supply is frequently replenished. “If I know anything about people who shop at thrift stores, it’s that they also donate with some enthusiasm,” Black quipped. “That being said, I’ve been in a Value Village and seen a manager bump the price up on something even though it’s dirty or stained. I think that the focus needs to go on the companies who are setting these price standards and continuing to raise them.” 

At the end of the day resellers are continuously being held accountable, while conglomerates like Walmart profit off mass clothing donations to Value Village. Really, though, unless these girls decided to resell clothes at the price of purchase and bypass any profit at all, “ethicality” seems impossible to achieve. The point stands that it isn’t Depop sellers doing the dirty work of capitalism; blame can and should remain on corporations.

 

By Emma Johnston-Wheeler

Visual by Kaylina Kodlick

Related Topics
  • capitalism
  • Depop
  • Emma Johnston-Wheeler
  • ethics
  • fashion
  • Kaylina Kodlick
  • money
  • PAIN
  • style
Previous Article
  • Culture & Entertainment

“Promising Young Woman” and Rape-Revenge Thrills

  • March 17, 2021
  • Sofia Voss
View Post
Next Article
  • Culture & Entertainment

The Italian Renaissance: “The Sopranos” in 2021 

  • March 18, 2021
  • Jadie Stillwell
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Fashion & Beauty

Don’t Call Rowing Blazers Founder Jack Carlson Preppy

  • April 9, 2021
  • Katherine Williams
View Post
  • Fashion & Beauty

Thank You, Instagram, for Ruining My Face

  • February 23, 2021
  • Chloe Rose
View Post
  • Fashion & Beauty

Faith, Freud, and Fetish: The Impact of Galliano’s Fall 2000 Collection

  • February 17, 2021
  • Aarohi Sheth
View Post
  • Fashion & Beauty

Fiorucci’s Revival: 16th-Century Art Meets Depop

  • January 29, 2021
  • Irine Le
View Post
  • Fashion & Beauty

25 Years Later, “Clueless” Fashion Is Still, Like, Totally Important

  • January 26, 2021
  • Bec Oakes
View Post
  • Fashion & Beauty

An Intimate Look at Intimate Apparel

  • January 21, 2021
  • Cierra Bettens
View Post
  • Fashion & Beauty

Makeup in Conversation with Frostie Delite

  • December 5, 2020
  • Aashna Agarwal
View Post
  • Fashion & Beauty

The Body-Positive Movement Will Not Be Advertised

  • December 1, 2020
  • Modesty Sanchez

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Featured Posts
  • 1
    Have You Thought About Your Neighbors Today?
    • April 13, 2021
  • 2
    How Capitalism Forces Us to Commodify Our Personal Lives
    • April 12, 2021
  • 3
    Don’t Call Rowing Blazers Founder Jack Carlson Preppy
    • April 9, 2021
  • 4
    Discovering My Sexuality, Alone in My Childhood Bedroom
    • April 8, 2021
  • 5
    Are Tastemakers the New Influencers?
    • April 6, 2021
Recent Posts
  • What’s Private Is Public: Drawing the Ethical Line as a Personal Essayist 
    • April 5, 2021
  • Stop Expecting “Sad Indie Girls” to Be Sad All the Time
    • April 2, 2021
  • Billie Eilish’s Documentary Closes the Gap Between Celebrities and Fans
    • April 1, 2021
Categories
  • Culture & Entertainment (158)
  • Fashion & Beauty (33)
  • Life (147)
  • News & Politics (74)
  • Photography (63)
  • Sex & Love (70)
Search
Instagram
Capitalism forces us to commodify our personal lives. Success is measured by profitability—and how well we can package our personal lives to gain likeability and engagement. And with that can come mistreatment, unethical acts that are difficult to fight against alone. Lithium writer @jordinna notes, “It is the role of the privileged to take a stand and bargain whenever necessary to pave the way for those unable to do so themselves. If you can safely express your opposition, complaints, or needs, you should, as you’ll be encouraging the development of a healthier and more ethical setting for those with precarious jobs.” Read about it now on Lithium ⚖️
In an interview with @jackcarlson, the founder of @rowingblazers, there are several tangents and an unabashed bluntness about the state of contemporary fashion and consumption. He doesn’t hesitate to name-drop when talking about everything he never wants Rowing Blazers to become—Rowing Blazers wants to turn stuffiness into self-awareness within the world of preppy style. Read our latest interview by @katwilliiams on Lithium ⚡️
From scrolling through Tumblr to inviting significant others in, @mayarpage’s bedroom was an inseparable part of discovering her sexuality. In her newest personal essay, she writes, “My old bedroom is a time capsule—it invokes the memories of my coming of age, the euphoric feelings of finding myself, feeling seen and loved. The door will always be open.” Read on Lithium now ⏳
Nowadays, good taste is a currency for clout. The rise of curation in all echelons of the cultural hierarchy results from the problem at the heart of digital consumerism: people don’t trust algorithms and are overwhelmed by choice. Curation, therefore, is the counterculture movement that restores meaning to content and products. But, with that comes concerns of gatekeeping and elitism and consumerism. Read @jvsli’s latest on Lithium now ⚡️
For personal essayists, what’s private often feels public. Are writers more preoccupied with protecting other people’s information than their own? Lithium writer @itsalicegarnett muses, No writer ever wants to receive the ‘is this about me?’ text, so we omit and we fine-tune to avoid conflict with the people in our lives. Still, thanks to writing so many personal essays, I’m struggling to draw the line between myself as Person versus myself as Writer.” Read more on the site now ✍️
Really, the new Billie Eilish documentary helps bridge the gap between the celebrity and her fans. @elliergreenberg writes, “With one foot in what’s left of her childhood—hanging with hometown friends, sleeping in her childhood bedroom, and spending time with her protective parents—Eilish is also beginning to step into adulthood, the process being considerably sped up by her burgeoning fame. This constant push and pull between her two worlds is ever-so-present throughout the film, speaking truth to the title—the world is spinning around Eilish, dizzying her in the process.” Read about it now on Lithium ⛓
The music industry slaps this label—“sad girl indie”—on any woman who expresses her emotions. It’s lazy at best but precarious at worst, revealing both the issues with the label and the need to invent more appropriate genres (or ditch categorization altogether). In her latest essay, @nat.geisel writes about the dilemma of the “sad indie girl” trope faced by artists from Phoebe Bridgers to Mitski, while men who share their emotions are applauded for their brilliance. Read more on the site now 🎶
Normalize disliking people for no particular reason. Let’s face it—we just don’t click with everyone we meet. And there doesn’t have to be beef. Don’t lead people on—you can make it clear there’s no friendship (whether it’s because you have nothing in common, you don’t vibe with them, or they just annoy you). After all, there’s a glow-up that comes with just not caring. Read @chelsiearia’s latest essay on the site now💫
A little party never killed anybody, right? In this hauntingly personal essay, Lauren Andrikanich reflects upon her party experiences from childhood to now, in the midst of a pandemic and a sense of losing herself. She writes, “The best time for parties is when you’re young, before you know that all the adults hate each other. Parties just don’t have the same feel to them after you’ve heard your mom’s best friend scream at your dad in the driveway of a costume party.” Read about it now on Lithium 🖤

Input your search keywords and press Enter.