Second-hand fashion marketplaces Vinted and United Wardrobe join forces to expand international footprint

Vinted, Europe’s online C2C marketplace dedicated to second-hand fashion has acquired United Wardrobe, second-hand fashion platform in the Netherlands to accelerate rapid expansion to new markets and extend their international footprint. The company said in a statement that with a combined member base of 34 million buyers and sellers across 11 countries in Europe, Vinted and United Wardrobe share a vision to make second-hand fashion the first choice worldwide by encouraging the growth of responsible fashion and the circular economy.

Commenting on the development, Thomas Plantenga, Vinted CEO, said: “We have known the United Wardrobe team for some time and have huge respect for their impressive growth trajectory, their passion and entrepreneurial spirit. Together, Vinted and United Wardrobe can scale faster – doubling our rate of expansion to new markets - and deliver a truly unique product to our community of members across Europe.”

From this week, the company added, the two platforms will gradually be integrated, and users of United Wardrobe will be invited to migrate their user accounts to Vinted, providing them access to a wider variety and range of second-hand fashion products. United Wardrobe members will join Vinted’s connected international platform, allowing them to transact across one combined marketplace spanning the Netherlands, France, Spain, Belgium, and Luxembourg. United Wardrobe members will also benefit from Vinted’s zero sellers’ fees, allowing them to list and sell items for free.

Vinted acquires United Wardrobe

United Wardrobe CEO Sjuul Berden, COO Maud Behaghel and CTO Thijs Slijkhuis will take on leadership roles in the combined business and will help to drive and accelerate expansion into new markets. United Wardrobe will be integrated into the Vinted business and will continue to be based in Utrecht.

“It’s always been our goal to connect our buyers and sellers on one central European marketplace. As of today, United Wardrobe users will be able to transact with the international community of Vinted, and share pre-loved fashion from Amsterdam to Paris, and from Madrid to Utrecht – all with no seller fees, secure payments and simple cross-border shipping,” added Sjuul Berden.

Vinted, founded in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2008 and operates across 12 markets globally: Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, the UK, and the USA, completed a Series E funding round in November 2019, bringing its valuation to more than one billion euros. Since increasing its activities in the Netherlands in 2019, Vinted now has over one million registered members in the country. United Wardrobe, founded by three Dutch students from Wageningen University in 2014, has expanded from its base in the Netherlands to operate across Belgium, France and Germany. Its member base has grown rapidly to over four million registered users in five years.

Picture credit:FTI Consulting