#thredup

[likemonalisa]

Fran Drescher, thredUP, 2022

[agoodpretender]

Kinda shit Jack would buy

[literaryxbones]

Online Thrifting Platforms-A Guide and Goth's Resource #1

There are a plethora of online thrift stores to choose from when you're in an alternative and DIY ethos. Not all of them are created equal, and each platform has its differences that may cater to certain people. With numerous choices, misinformation, and scammers out there, I wanted to provide a guide that's easy to digest and helpful for those getting into alt fashion scenes.

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A Note About Alternative Fashion

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Traditionally, alternative fashion strays from consumerism. This means that people in alt subcultures tend to avoid shopping at large corporations, mainstream online retailers, and fast fashion outlets. Goth, and other music-based movements rely on DIY, second-hand, consignment, and thrift stores for the majority of their outfits.

1. ThredUp

ThredUp is the platform I personally use and purchase from. They've been around since 2009 and are headquartered in Oakland, California.

ThredUp is an app-based platform that allows users to buy and sell used clothing. They specialize in selling second-hand branded clothing at reduced prices. I'm going to giving them a brief evaluation based on four categories: price, quality, UI, and ethics.

Price

ThredUp tends to be on the expensive side. I'd expect this to be due to their Dynamic Pricing algorithm. Clothes usually range from $20-100. Designer brands usually retail at around $100-500.

(Regular Item Pricing)

(Luxury Item Pricing. Final Sale means that the item can't be returned.)

Quality

From my personal experience, the items I've purchased from ThredUp have been great quality. Though, I do research brand quality on consumer review sites like goodonyou.eco thegoodshoppingguide.com, and Reddit before buying.

Through product descriptions, sellers can indicate the condition of the product they're selling.

Conditions range from

Excellent--this item is practically new! It shows no obvious signs of being worn or washed. 

Very Good--this item shows no major flaws. Due to being worn or washed, there may be light fading or pilling in areas such as the knees, seams, and hems. Hardware may also have light scratches. 

Good--Item has clearly been worn but is still in good condition. There may be minor signs of wear such as small holes (maximum two), light pilling, fading, or stains. If an item arrives not in the condition we listed, please send our support team a chat! We want to make things right. (I personally would not consider garments like this to be in good condition, but you can use this rating index to ensure that the product you're purchasing is undamaged.)

as per their website.

Fabric materials are also listed, including percentages. Depending on the ingredients, you can determine whether or not your prospective garment is sustainable, durable, or a good price for the materials used.

(Natural doesn't neccessarily equate to sustainable.)

Sinosilk has a free fabric pricing guide, measured per yard. This may offer you some additional guidance on determining whether or not what you're buying is truly worth it!

User Interface (UI)

Positives

ThredUp has a distinctive pastel green and white UI, which is quite pleasing to the eyes! However, this is where most of my complaints come in!

so sorry this image didn't center

Sorting categories and buttons are very robust. You can easily filter by Size, Category, Brand, Color, Condition. There is also a tab that sorts by percentage discounts. It's very easy to find clothing on sale here!

Negatives

Unfortunately, the shopping tab is very cluttered. While they do have relevant filtering options, tags for clothing are often misrepresented, misused, and leveraged for SEO.

omg why is it aligned like that-

Another thing I don't like about the UI is the 2-hour shopping cart limit. If you put an item in your cart, you have 2 hours to buy it before it disappears from your cart. Once it disappears, it can be hard to find the item you wanted.

(I'm not actually buying these)

The platform also plays into the psychology of urgency. The ticking time limit creates anticipation, anxiety, rushing users to purchase. I dislike this design decision.

Ethics

Negatives

ThredUp raises some very pertinent ethical concerns. I already spoke about the dynamic pricing.

When looking to buy, you cannot see any information about an item's seller. Sourcing is anonymous, with the exception of the garment's brand. It's impossible to tell whether you're buying from a mass reseller, a family who's kids outgrew their clothes, or a person who's looking to downsize their closet. I have a MAJOR problem with this. Seller Details place credibility, transparency, and accountability, not just on the person selling, but on the platform where the commerce is taking place. Even Amazon utilizes this basic feature.

2. Sellers cannot choose the condition labels applied to their stock. These labels are automatically assigned based on product pictures. There have been cases of items being misrepresented as *Good Condition* even if the manufacturer's intent was to make them look distressed or worn. The credibility of these Condition Ratings have been called into question.

3. Sellers cannot choose the price their clothes retail for. Profit margins are low when selling on ThredUp, (about 10%) but thrifting shouldn't be a money-making venture in my opinion anyway. Still, giving people no control over their old products' price is not a consumer friendly practice.

4. Sizing descriptions are not always accurate. They are inconsistent at best.

Positives

ThredUp packages their garments in a biodegradable package. It's compostable.

Overall Rating

6/10

I hope I've provided some good insight on a lesser well known thrift site. As always, your decisions are your own and I would suggest doing your own research to find out more. I tried to research the best I could, and I hope my findings were helpful to you guys.

Next time, I'm going to cover Vinted next, which is a favorite among Tumblr's goth community (from what I've gathered talking to friends, moots, and acquaintances)

-THIS POST IS NOT SPONSORED.

-Black Bow Animation by @cheriisoda

-Written by SORDID

SOURCES

1. Thredup. “Secondhand Clothes. Firsthand Fun.” ThredUP, 2019, www.thredup.com/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025. 2. Wikipedia Contributors. “ThredUp.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 May 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThredUp. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.

[euthanizedcarouselpony]

treesje ruffled leather bag

[arctic-hands]

People can be oddly smug about the stupidest things. I once made a post on the ThredUp reddit about how not only was it never listed on site about how the sweater i just got was handwash only, when I did wash it by hand it turns out it was so filthy it took two days of soaking and scrubbing and constantly changing the water for this completely gray sweater to stop leeching rust brown. The universal response was "if you can afford a luxury sweater you can afford a dry cleaner🙄" the sweater was ten dollars??

[doulayogimama]

My ThredUp orders for the kids and I are 🤌🏽🤌🏽🤌🏽

My coat, long cardigan, blazer, and hoodie are so nice! And the happiness / joy in my heart that it’s thrifted is kinda ridiculous 😂

All of these clothes that could’ve ended up in a landfill and they’re perfect or close to it!!! The tag is still on my Lucky Brand coat and it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever owned. Keeping that baby for a long time. 🙌🏽

[thriftygerbs]

Thrift fit of the day featuring a dress, shoes and sweater from Goodwill. Belt from ThredUP.

I’m mixing summer with fall for this one. This cute Liz Claiborne dress I got for just $7.99! It is a beautiful thin dress with a pink floral print with gold accents. You can see the hem ruff matches the shelves. So cute!

The thick cheetah belt with excessive gold hardware is giving me a more defined waist line.

I love mixing patterns. Between the floral design in the dress, the cheetah belt and the stripped sweater it’s a lot going on but I think it works nicely.

The shoes remind me of something a library would wear. Seems like the perfect way to tie the whole look together. I bought these shoes when I was applying to work at a college.

Where am I going? Am I a librarian working on a campus. A busy mom on the go running errands and picking up the kids?

[infiniterichesinalittleroom]

My clothes perhaps end up expensive, not because the company is making a huge profit, but because we create special fabric, and there are certain techniques involving lots of details. Instead of buying three pieces of clothing in a month or a year, why not buy one thing they can afford and enjoy it. Rather than creating a lot of clothes, I wish people would value creativity so that the world will not be filled up with rubbish clothes.

Rei Kawakubo • i-D no. 104 (March 1992)