How a Move and 300 Items of Clothing Turned into Vinted, a Second‑Hand Fashion Giant
Started in Lithuania in 2008 after a student found she could only fit a third of her wardrobe in a new flat, Vinted grew into a unicorn by upending the second‑hand clothing market and reporting its first profit in 2023.
Milda Mitkutė’s decision to clear out an excess wardrobe after a flat move in 2008 led to the creation of Vinted, now one of Europe’s leading online marketplaces for second‑hand clothing. The platform, which began as a small website in Lithuania, expanded into multiple countries, became a billion‑dollar company and was confirmed as Lithuania’s first unicorn in 2019. Vinted reported its first profit in 2023 and counts millions of active users in several markets, including more than 16 million in the U.K.
Mitkutė, then 21, told the BBC World Service’s Witness History programme that she discovered she had about 300 items of clothing but could take only about 100 into her smaller new closet. A conversation at a party with friend and coder Justas Janauskas rapidly turned into market testing and, within weeks, a live site called manodrabužiai — "my clothes" in Lithuanian. The founders initially launched hurriedly and even omitted a "buy" button; after friends flagged the omission, Janauskas added the functionality and Mitkutė sold 40 of her own items in the first week.
Word‑of‑mouth growth and early media coverage in 2009 coincided with a fortuitous encounter with German travellers who persuaded the founders to test the model in Germany under the name Kleiderkreisel. That expansion accelerated adoption and helped shape the platform that eventually became Vinted. The company’s model — an app and website that allows individuals to list, buy and sell used clothing and related items — tapped growing consumer interest in circular consumption and alternatives to fast fashion.
Vinted’s marketplace differs from traditional auction platforms in its focus and fee structure. Sellers generally list items free of charge; buyers cover postage and a service fee. The company also offers optional paid promotional tools for sellers. Vinted enforces rules about permitted items, and the range of listings has broadened beyond clothing to include shoes, accessories and an eclectic mix of goods that users have posted.
Despite rapid growth, the company’s trajectory included a near‑crisis in 2016 when Vinted introduced a commission fee on sales. Mitkutė described the move as "one of the biggest mistakes we did in Vinted’s history," saying the change halted organic growth and word‑of‑mouth referrals. Management later reversed the policy under then‑CEO Thomas Plantenga, replacing seller commissions with other revenue measures and investing in television advertising to rebuild awareness and user acquisition. The adjustments helped restore growth and user engagement.
Industry observers and analysts note that Vinted sits alongside other resale platforms such as Depop in the U.K. and ThredUp in the U.S., and that these specialist marketplaces have chipped away at eBay’s long‑standing dominance of used clothing sales by offering mobile‑first experiences tailored to younger buyers and sellers. The trend has intersected with broader consumer concerns about sustainability and the environmental impact of fast fashion, positioning resale apps as part of a broader circular economy.
Mitkutė, who does not work at Vinted today, has spoken publicly about the platform’s cultural impact on how people think about discarding goods. She told the BBC she was proud of the shift she helped create, citing anecdotal feedback from users who no longer feel comfortable throwing items away and instead list them for resale. Vinted’s founders and management have framed the company’s growth in part as a response to environmental concerns, although academic and policy research continues to assess how much resale platforms reduce overall consumption and carbon footprints.
The company’s commercial milestones are concrete: after years of expansion and product refinement, Vinted reached unicorn status in 2019 and reported its first annual profit in 2023. Those milestones followed iterative changes to the product and business model, including the removal of seller commissions, investment in advertising and continued international roll‑outs.
For consumers and small sellers, the platform’s rise has generated practical guidance on listing and selling used goods. Experienced sellers advise good lighting and clear photos to show condition, honest descriptions that note flaws, competitive pricing informed by comparable listings and strategic bundling of lower‑value items to attract buyers. Social media can amplify listings, and showing items worn on a person or mannequin helps buyers assess fit.
As resale platforms continue to expand, their impact on retail markets and consumer behaviour will remain under scrutiny. Vinted’s evolution from a hastily built website to a major player in the resale economy illustrates both the commercial potential of peer‑to‑peer marketplaces and the operational risks companies face when altering core features that affect user incentives. The company’s experience underscores how product decisions, user trust and marketing investments can determine whether a marketplace scales or stalls.