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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

Depop

Depop (
Private sector
)
#SDGAction60914
Description
Description

Depop is the community-powered circular fashion marketplace where anyone can buy, sell and discover desirable, affordable secondhand fashion. Our mission is to make fashion circular: keeping what already exists in use for longer, and inspiring millions more people to choose secondhand over new. 

Every secondhand purchase our community makes extends the life of clothing and reduces demand for new – meaning circularity is not an add-on, but a core business driver. We believe everything people want already exists. Depop’s role is to make circularity easy and exciting – helping anyone to discover and buy great, affordable fashion for themselves, their friends, and their families.

Fashion is driven by culture, creativity, and self-expression. To bring more people into circular fashion, we have to be both functional and magnetic. That means building an experience that’s intuitive and reliable, but also full of personality – a destination that feels rewarding to use, worth returning to, and worth recommending.

Implementation of the Project/Activity

Today’s consumers care about their impact, but they also expect shopping to be fast, exciting, and good value. To invite millions more people to secondhand we implement strategies that directly improve ease and efficiency, discovery and personalisation and trust and safety, across the platform. 

Making selling as easy as possible
We streamline the selling process for our sellers by automating and simplifying every step. AI tools auto-generate descriptions from a single image for sellers to review and edit, while Photoroom integration provides free, professional-quality editing. Tools like bulk upload and real time performance insights help users list faster and more effectively — reducing friction and making it more likely for users to participate in the circular economy.

Enhancing discovery and personalisation
We make finding secondhand items inspiring and intuitive, with technology that includes our AI-powered homepage and matching models that refresh personalised recommendations. Boost Shop automates listing promotion, and our new in-app styling tool, Outfits, allows users to collage pieces, experiment with looks, and turn inspiration into shoppable outfits, all within Depop. By enhancing discovery and personalisation, we can make the resale experience on par, and more appealing than retail — with the aim converting more people to shop secondhand. 

Driving awareness of circularity
Through marketing campaigns, real life events, and our Student Brand Ambassador Program across 100 university campuses in the USA, we introduce new audiences to circular fashion. Student ambassadors are given the tools and exposure to grow their shops on Depop whilst introducing more people to shop secondhand. Our brand partnerships help scale responsible consumption by connecting communities with brands they love while extending product life. We’ve worked with Dr. Martens on its ReSouled range, restoring worn boots for resale; with Tommy Hilfiger on resale activations linked to its take back programme; and with Selfridges to bring the in-app experience to traditional retail. Across all activity, the aim is connection: empowering sellers and inspiring more people to engage in circular fashion. 

Helping people understand their impact
We enable users to see the impact of their choices by sharing carbon and water savings associated with buying secondhand. Email nudges, annual wrap-ups, and check-ins help our community recognise the difference their selling and purchasing decisions make individually and collectively.

Features that better enable circularity
We build features that make circular behaviours easy and effortless. “Repop” enables one-click re-listing so buyers can resell items instantly if they’re not quite right.

Giving our community confidence to go circular
Since resale is new to many users, we want to ensure they feel safe and confident to participate in the circular economy. We do this by protecting users through advanced security and safety systems. Passwordless login prevents account breaches; AI fraud detection monitors interactions in real time; and a hybrid AI + human moderation system ensures policy compliance. Auto-resolution tools streamline disputes and automate refunds when needed.

Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer

Depop believes collaboration is critical for lasting change. Working with WRAP and industry peers, we contributed to the 2025 Displacement Rates Untangled report, which establishes a standardised methodology for measuring how resale and repair offset demand for new clothing.

In 2025, we also supported the Recommerce Caucus - a bipartisan group of US legislators focused on promoting the re-commerce economy - to help mainstream circular practices and expand economic opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs in the circular economy. We also contributed to Customer-Centric Growth: A Playbook for Scaling Repair and Resale in Fashion from the British Fashion Council’s Institute of Positive Fashion and Clarasys. Designed to help brands scale their circular propositions, the playbook shares practical insights and examples from across the industry on how to make repair and resale mainstream

We also facilitate knowledge-sharing through panel discussions, community events and partnerships in key markets. Depop spokespeople have joined panels at Retail Week’s Responsible Retail Summit, The Slow Tech Uprising, LTW AI in Retail and have appeared on podcasts such as Gzero’s Local to Global to discuss the circular economy.

Coordination mechanisms

Circularity is embedded across Depop. Our Impact team sets strategy, direction and measurement, while delivery happens in partnership with Product, Marketing, Operations and many more. 

At leadership level, Depop’s Executive team receive annual updates on our Impact strategy, including our public circularity target to ‘Leverage our marketing and product capabilities to facilitate access to circular fashion and inspire more people to shop circular’, and are responsible for approving new targets. 

At a group level, the Etsy Inc. Impact strategy (including Depop specific targets) is approved annually by the Etsy Executive Team, with oversight from the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of our Board of Directors. 

Operational delivery sits across key functions. Depop’s Product and Technology teams develop features like Repop, making it easier for people to relist, while removing barriers to entry through smarter, simpler selling tools. Our Marketing team brings circular fashion to life through creative campaigns that show how inspiring secondhand style can be and motivate our community to engage in more sustainable behaviours. Our Operations team work behind the scene on practical areas like shipping decarbonisation, helping to reduce our footprint as we grow. 

To ensure accountability, Impact goals are embedded into broader business plans, and aligned with community needs. Progress is shared and ensure progress is visible and transparent across teams, ensuring accountability is shared.

Evaluation

Our scale represents our key achievements to date when it comes to making fashion circular, we now have:

  • Approximately 56M registered users

  • Over 68M items for sale 

  • Around 600,000 new listings each day. 

  • Our community has given 136M items a second life since Depop was founded in 2011

  • Over $6B worth of goods have been sold to date.

Credible progress also depends on consistent measurement across the industry. Using the new standardised framework in collaboration with industry peers and WRAP (The Waste & Resources Action Programme), we updated our displacement rate and found that 3 in 5 purchases on Depop prevented brand-new items being bought elsewhere. 

Our research also shows that if users don’t find what they want, most either keep looking or buy nothing (71% of surveyed buyers; 73% in the US). Only 6% turn to brand-new fast fashion. This demonstrates a growing shift towards intentional, sustainable consumption decisions among Depop users.

Partners

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), brands (Dr. Martens, Tommy Hilfiger, Selfridges, Westfield UK), Recommerce Caucus, University partners participating in the Student Brand Ambassador Program, Penta, Sustainability Analytics, Clarasys

Goal 12

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Goal 12

12.1

Implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries

12.1.1

Number of countries developing, adopting or implementing policy instruments aimed at supporting the shift to sustainable consumption and production

12.2

By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources

12.2.1

Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP

12.2.2

Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP

12.3

By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses

12.3.1

(a) Food loss index and (b) food waste index

12.4

By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment

12.4.1
Number of parties to international multilateral environmental agreements on hazardous waste, and other chemicals that meet their commitments and obligations in transmitting information as required by each relevant agreement
12.4.2

(a) Hazardous waste generated per capita; and (b) proportion of hazardous waste treated, by type of treatment

12.5

By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse

12.5.1

National recycling rate, tons of material recycled

12.6

Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle

12.6.1
Number of companies publishing sustainability reports

12.7

Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities

12.7.1

Number of countries implementing sustainable public procurement policies and action plans

12.8

By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature

12.8.1

Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment

12.a

Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production

12.a.1

Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing and developed countries (in watts per capita)

12.b

Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products

12.b.1

Implementation of standard accounting tools to monitor the economic and environmental aspects of tourism sustainability

12.c

Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities

12.c.1

Amount of fossil-fuel subsidies (production and consumption) per unit of GDP

Name Description

Depop launched AI-powered listing from one photo, to help users sell secondhand seamlessly. This enables mainstream adoption of circular behaviour by lowering friction, making it feel more accessible and enhancing user experience.

A brand-led campaign designed to tap into the emotional connection at the heart of resale and that moment of finding the perfect item you’ve been searching for. “When Taste Recognises Taste” celebrates the individuality, self-expression and discovery that define secondhand fashion, while driving awareness of circular consumption. Through storytelling and cultural moments, the campaign inspires more people to choose secondhand first.

Working alongside The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and industry peers, we’re proud to have contributed to the 2025 "Displacement Rates Untangled " report to

provide a standardized approach to measuring how circular fashion practices, specifically resale and repair, offset the demand for new clothing. Depop published its own Displacement Rate Report, created using the new industry-aligned methodology developed in collaboration with WRAP and peer organisations. This report measures how Depop purchases directly offset the demand for brand new purchases, providing credible measurement for the circular fashion ecosystem.

Depop launched its Partner API, designed to support professional and high-volume sellers with seamless listing, inventory management, and operational efficiency. By enabling partners to integrate directly with Depop’s marketplace, the API expands access to circular commerce at scale, helping more businesses participate in resale and removing barriers to entry. 

Staff / Technical expertise
Dedicated Impact team responsible for strategy, measurement and integration across the organisation
Staff / Technical expertise
Cross-functional support from Product, Technology, Operations and Marketing teams
Financing (in USD)
Investment in AI-driven product features that enable scalable, accessible circularity
Staff / Technical expertise
Partnership resources dedicated to collaborating with brands, institutions and industry groups
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Action Network
Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network
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Timeline
01 January 2026 (start date)
04 March 2026 (date of completion)
Entity
N/A
SDGs
12
Region
  1. Global
Geographical coverage
United Kingdon
Other beneficiaries

Our global community of buyers and sellers, including small businesses, creatives, independent entrepreneurs and conscious consumers engaging in circular fashion.

Sellers, small businesses & entrepreneurs
Depop helps people turn unused items into income and, for many, into a meaningful business. Across the US, 77% of Americans own fashion items they no longer wear, with the average person holding 24 unused pieces. With an average resale price of $17 per item (rising to $18 for ages 25–34), this means the typical closet contains around $400 in untapped resale value. At a national level, this represents a multi-billion-dollar opportunity for individuals to generate income from existing assets.

According to the recent survey, US resellers earn an average of $606 annually, rising to $656 for ages 25–34. 28% of 25–34-year-olds see resale as a regular side hustle, and 1 in 10 have turned it into a full-time business. Resale income also supports everyday needs with 50% of resellers use earnings for bills, while 36% put them toward savings and importantly, 57% of Americans say resale now forms part of their household financial planning.

Depop makes it easy for sellers to unlock this value—lowering barriers to entry and enabling anyone to start reselling without upfront costs or inventory investment. 

[Data has come from research conducted by Censuswide, surveying 3002 US respondents (gen pop) with min. 250 respondents in each of the following: New York, Chicago, Miami, LA, Dallas, San Francisco and Austin (16+) conducted between 22.09.2025 and 25.09.2025]

Circular consumers
Depop helps normalise secondhand shopping and embed circular behaviours into everyday life.

  • 34% of consumers now mix secondhand and new purchases.

  • Emotional and environmental benefits reinforce behaviour change:

    • 41% of sellers feel less wasteful

    • 36% feel they are positively impacting the environment

    • 1 in 3 resellers now buy fewer new items

By making resale social, accessible, and rewarding, Depop supports lasting shifts toward circular fashion and reduced overconsumption.

Creativity and culture
For many in the Depop community, resale is also a creative outlet—combining personal style, curation, and cultural expression.

  • 33% of consumers buy secondhand for unique styles, and 32% for vintage or one-of-a-kind finds.

  • Sellers often act as stylists and curators, building audiences around their personality rather than mass production.

Depop enables creativity to be monetised, allowing sellers to build personal brands and connect with buyers seeking originality and self-expression.

[Data has come from research conducted by Censuswide, surveying 3002 US respondents (gen pop) with min. 250 respondents in each of the following: New York, Chicago, Miami, LA, Dallas, San Francisco and Austin (16+) conducted between 22.09.2025 and 25.09.2025]

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