Many young women like fast fashion fan Hollie are very familiar with how easy it is to buy a brand-new outfit for a special occasion and then not wear it again. In 2014, the then 18-year-old decided to clear out her wardrobe and sell old outfits on Depop to make some extra cash.
If you're not familiar with Depop, the app lets people buy and sell unwanted outfits and has started a revolution in the second-hand clothing market - and has help savvy seller make thousands.
Hollie started casually using the app while living just across the Bristol Channel in Cardiff after getting "super bored" of the clothing she had - but she now nets a sex-figure salary after becoming a top seller.
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Holly sells a range of products from jewellery to men's designer clothes and handed in her notice to her old job in June 2021 to work of the shops full-time. She told The Mirror: "I went to Dubai in February 2021 for a month and funnily enough I haven’t been back to the UK since.
"I think by June I was handing my notice in, I’d been able to scale my shops to a point where I didn’t need to sacrifice my hours between 9-5 every day and there’s nothing more motivating than the sun outside to make you get off your butt and try and make something of your life.
"I still one hundred per cent will one day finish my training and become a lawyer but I would love to be able to scale my shops to the point where I can work pro-bono."
She works from Bali, Indonesia, and keeps in touch with the five people here in the UK who manage the manual labour of sending out the packages.
Describing her day-to-day, she said: "I adopted an incredibly cheeky Bali dog after a few months of living here so she wakes up at about 5 or 6 every day.
"I check in with the people who are doing the manual labour for my shops in the UK to make sure everything went smoothly that day as there’s an eight hour time difference. Then I’ll find a cute cafe to work in and spend a few hours checking my inventories and seeing if I need to restock anything. I also check any new Depop trends to make sure I’m up to date and then I make some TikToks for the week.
"At lunchtime, I go home, go to the gym and then sunbathe until people in the UK are awake. At this point, I’ll record some videos for Instagram with my daily Depop tips and then I’m done with work for the day."
Over the past seven years, Hollie has made thousands of pounds each month from what was her side-hustle - but she almost lost everything in 2020 when her shops were hacked.
She said: "I can tell you that on average I make [between] five to ten times what I used to earn in a month. I was quite surprised that my shops have taken off so much but I have a lot more outgoings now that I’ve outsourced my work to other people.
"I’ve come a long way from living off Lidl 19p pasta!"
She wrote an e-book last year designed to explain to people how to fast-track success on Depop, explaining how she built and scaled her businesses to the point where she quit her job. For those keen to sell their own clothes, she advises: "Most importantly - do your RESEARCH.
"I can’t explain the amount of money I lost buying random things to sell and having none of it sell. I always tell people that their starting capital is in their wardrobe but honestly it is. Declutter your wardrobe and shop sustainably, this is the future! "
For any further tips, follow Hollie on Instagram and TikTok @hollieamc.
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