Vinted publishes first Climate Change Impact Report

Vinted, the marketplace for second-hand fashion, has released the findings of the inaugural Climate Change Impact Report. An investigation of the environmental effects of buying second-hand clothing on Vinted rather than new was included in the in-depth report.

Utilizing a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, the findings reveal that buying used clothing on Vinted as opposed to brand-new clothing saved an average of 1.8 kg CO2e per item. As a result, in 2021 the market avoided 453 kilotonnes of CO2e in carbon emissions, which is the same amount as traveling 275,000 times between London and Los Angeles.

Vaayu, the developers behind the report, used an LCA approach to analyze half a billion transactions and gain insights about consumers’ purchasing habits from a sample of 350,000 Vinted users. This creates the largest primary dataset on the scale for used internet purchasing.

Although over half of the purchasers (47%) buy used items because they are more affordable, the study found that 20% of buyers are driven by environmental and social concerns, demonstrating that consumers are becoming more aware of the effects of their purchases.

20% of consumers responded in the affirmative when asked if they would still choose to purchase used goods even if they were equally priced in the new market.

Thomas Plantenga, CEO of Vinted, said that fashion is responsible for substantial damage to the environment, thus their purpose is built in the conviction that resale is one of the answers to confront this harm. They are pleased to be able to demonstrate, via this thorough investigation, that purchasing used goods from Vinted is preferable to purchasing new ones in terms of the environment. And they’ll apply the knowledge they gain from this analysis to help Vinted and its members modify their fashion consumption habits and keep lowering the impact of fashion on the climate going forward.