ImpactAlpha, September 5 – Today’s fashion consumers are a hart-to-please breed: on the one hand, are the two-thirds of Millennials who say they’re willing to spend more on sustainable brands; on the other, are the two-thirds of Millennials who say they’d quickly switch brands for a discount.
“Consumers expect it all: convenience, quality, values orientation, newness, and price,” notes a 2017 McKinsey fashion report.
That seeming contradiction may be partly what’s helping online retailer Vinted transact close to $500 million in used clothing sales in nine countries.
The Lithuania-based online retailer started in 2008 as an eBay specifically for people to sell their used clothes. Its current CEO, Thomas Plantenga, says that what the company is doing now is tapping into “super trends of people wanting not to waste and being careful of how they pressure the environment.”
Vinted hasn’t had an easy go getting its model right. (Early investors Insight Venture Partners and Accel Venture Capital were ready to write off their investment, TechCrunch reports.) But after a business-model overhaul involving a decision to drop its sales fees for users, the company has raised €50 million ($58 million) in a Series D funding round. The round is reportedly the largest raised by a Luthuanian company.
Sprints Capital led the round, with backing from Burda Media, FJ Labs, and also one of its earliest backers, Insight Venture Partners.
