Get Yourself Minted With Vinted

Joanne Gordon at Greystones Post Office THURS4JUNE26

t all began at a house party in Vilnius, Lithuania back in 2008, when 22-year-old Milda Mitkuté asked her friend, Justas Janauskas, to help her get rid of some old clothes.

So, the duo built a website, popped 100 of Milda’s pre-loved fashion statements on it, and, eh, forgot to include a buy button.

Which may explain why Vinted took a while to find its feet, but this international site for secondhand goodies today employs over 2,000 people, and has been running rings around the world’s fashion circles for the past few years.

And nowhere more so, it seems, than at Greystones’ little post office, where people are either dropping off or collecting a formerly cherished item on a daily basis.

“It’s been great to see so many young people get into Vinted too,” says general manager Joanne Gordon, as the sun gives way to some more rain this afternoon down at Meridian Point. “It’s like a whole new social connection for teenagers, with many coming in after school and then just hanging around together outside, comparing notes.

“So, it’s having a real effect not just financially on people but socially too…”

With the pre-loved market now making up 10% of the global fashion industry, the likes of Vinted, Depop and even Facebook Marketplace have had a real impact on disposable online fashion brands such as Shein and Temu as well as bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Primark and Dunnes Stores.

And with Vinted having established itself as a boutique version of eBay, those secondhand clothes have been joined by all kinds of everything, from smartphones and books to vinyl, collectibles and even rugs.

“We’ve noticed too that anyone coming through the door to use Vinted is generally pretty happy,” finishes Joanne. “They’re either selling something and therefore coming into some money, or they’ve just bought something for far less than it would normally cost.

“So, this is brightening up our days too…”

You can find out more about Vinted right about here, and how to get yourself signed, sealed and delivered right over here.