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What we stand for

What we stand for

Depop is not just a platform, it’s a place to explore. Our mission is to build the world’s most diverse and progressive home of fashion, where you can tap into a collective of like-minded people and feel free to experiment, create and connect.

We value honesty, creativity, and above all kindness. As a home for largely secondhand, repurposed and reinvented fashion, we actively promote a fashion ecosystem that is kinder to the planet and kinder to people.

Kinder to the planet

As a society, we have more clothes than we could ever need. There are enough items of clothing on the planet right now to dress the next six generations of the human race, and 73% of the 53m tonnes of clothing created each year will be incinerated or landfilled.1,2 In the US and the UK, only about 10-30% of garments donated to charity and thrift stores actually end up on the shop floor.3

And the production of new clothes is only increasing. The fashion industry has doubled its production in the last 15 years.

We believe circular fashion has an important role to play in slowing the demand for new clothes, protecting our planet’s resources and promoting more mindful consumption. Buying an item used instead of new reduces its carbon footprint, on average, by 82%.4

At Depop, we’re a part of the global circular fashion movement. We work alongside others in our ecosystem to advocate for a wider audience to buy and sell second hand, as an undeniably better option for the planet and its people:

  • Brands: We have committed to a systematic preference for circular and responsibly-made garments in our brand collaborations. Recently, we’ve partnered with Adidas, Christopher Raeburn, Benetton and Anna Sui to promote reworked, vintage or more responsibly manufactured lines.
  • Charities: Many charity organisations are currently selling successfully on Depop, including Oxfam, Cancer Research and the British Heart Foundation. Selling online gives charities a platform to reach an even wider and more diverse audience. Depop is a member of the Charity Retail Association, which works to support charity shops and charity retailers across the UK.
  • NGOs and research: We are part of a cross-industry project run by the World Economic Forum, exploring how to build sustainability into the supply chain through the latest digital tracing technology. We are also a member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Community, which works to develop and promote circular economy solutions.

As a business, we have big goals when it comes to sustainability. We aim to:

  • Make Depop climate neutral by the end of 2021.
  • Provide educational resources and mentorship opportunities to help entrepreneurs, creatives or small businesses from underrepresented groups grow their businesses sustainably.
  • Actively promote circularity in our community, through our brand collaborations and seller programmes.

Read more about our 2022 sustainability goals here.

Kinder to people

Everyone is welcome at Depop. We’re proud to host a diverse community of people on our platform, and we work to make sure that everyone feels welcome, represented, and able to succeed.

We expect everyone in our community to be:

  • Honest - about the items they’re selling, and with each other.
  • Creative - we’re here to have fun, explore and experiment.
  • Kind - we want everyone to feel free to be themselves here.

More broadly, we’re committed to equity; creating a more equal world for all across ethnicity, sexuality, physical ability, body shape and more. We want to be part of a new fashion system - one that reflects as many perspectives as possible. So we work to provide educational resources and mentorship opportunities to help entrepreneurs, creatives or small businesses from underrepresented communities grow their impact. We promote inclusion and diversity across our marketplace, digital channels and campaigns. And we have set clear targets to increase diversity within our business.

You can read more about how we are working to advance diversity within the Depop world here.

What about dropshipping?

Dropshipping

Noun

An online business model where a seller lists items for sale that they do not physically own. When a buyer orders from a dropshipper, the dropshipper then places an order with a large online retailer and has the item shipped directly to the buyer, usually brand new.

Eg, ‘I thought this tie dyed sweater was vintage, but it’s totally dropshipped.’

Because our objective is to foster a collective of creatives who upcycle, recycle and recirculate existing fashion, we don’t allow dropshipping on our platform. This means that if you don’t physically own an item yourself, you’re not allowed to sell it.

However, we do allow items that are produced or printed on demand that the seller has designed, and handcrafted items designed by the seller. If you’re selling these kind of items, you’ll need to take original photographs of them and follow our guidelines here.

For more detail on exactly what we mean by dropshipping, see our full Prohibited Items list here or our Help Centre article here.


  1. Vanish/BFC - Generation ReWear
  2. Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A New Textiles Economy
  3. Council for Textile Recycling, The LifeCycle of Secondhand Clothing
  4. Green Story Inc. for ThredUp

Still have more questions?