Exploring the fashion resale market, being where consumers shop, and engaging with Gen Z
A conversation with Danielle Vermeer about how to leverage technology in a shifting consumer market.
Changing the Guard
We live in a world where Gen Z is now the core consumer group—sorry, millennials, you’re in the backseat. And for a consumer group that’s digitally native and only ever known a world where fast fashion dominates the cycles, it’s challenging for many brands to understand how they should engage with younger shoppers.
As a deviation from fast fashion, younger shoppers have taken a strong interest in secondhand clothing, and it’s even led them to discover luxury fashion for the first time. And with the resale and secondhand markets exploding right now, plenty of marketplaces are out there, but not enough ways to connect buyers to sellers in a community-driven way.
Today we dive into this topic with Danielle Vermeer, co-founder & CEO of Teleport. Danielle is an expert at the intersection of sustainability, fashion, and tech. As an avid thrifting, Danielle also understands how resale is shifting our consumption habits, most notably with Gen Z shoppers.
We dive into Danielle’s background, how resale has changed consumption habits, insights for brands looking to tap into the reselling market, and how to engage with rising demand for secondhand fashion and the emergence of community-driven commerce.
Well, hello there. Tell us about your journey to Teleport…
Hello! I’m Danielle Vermeer, the founder & CEO of Teleport, and I'm obsessed with solving customer problems at the intersection of fashion, tech, and resale.
I've been an avid thrifter for 20+ years, haven't purchased any new clothes for 11+ years, launched luxury resale at Amazon under their Fashion division, and recently joined Teleport, an early-stage fashion tech startup.
Having started my career in sustainability, later pivoting into fashion-tech, now I’m marrying all three (fashion, tech, and resale) by building an app that lets you list secondhand pieces and connect with other shoppers in a communal way.
Fascinating. It feels like Teleport is out to accomplish what other secondhand apps haven’t been successful with, which is to build a community around your closet. What makes Teleport different?
Teleport is like if Depop and TikTok made a baby.
We want it to be the next go-to app for thrifting fashion, and we're on a mission to make thrifting fashion online 10x easier, more affordable, and more fun. The reality is that secondhand shopping is too hard, confusing, and time-consuming for the average consumer. If we want to make secondhand consumers' first choice, then the experience needs to be 10x better.
That's why on Teleport, you can discover, sell, and thrift directly from short outfit videos from our fun, positive community.
And making it interactive is unique too. Since part of the Teleport value prop is betting on younger shoppers… How does this appeal to them?
Gen Z primarily discovers new products through social media: 91% rely on Instagram and TikTok for discovery, and 82% make purchasing decisions during the “inspiration” phase of shopping.
Most secondhand and resale sites/apps are search-driven and single-player; it can feel like endless searching, sorting, filtering, saving, etc. On Teleport, we're building a discovery-driven and video-first experience to recreate the thrill of the hunt of thrifting IRL but in a fun, community-based experience.
Expanding out. What are some core differences between millennials and Gen Z as consumers?
Many Gen Z and younger consumers don't even know what quality fashion looks and feels like. I shared a tweet thread a few months ago about fashion quality that blew up. The goal is not to blame younger consumers for not knowing what quality fashion is.
How could they know when 60% of all new clothes are made of polyester and most of their closet is fast fashion? The goal is to help more consumers—Millennials, Gen Z, and soon Gen Alpha—have "a ha" moments about quality fashion, which I think will come mostly from secondhand and vintage clothes since they just don't make stuff like they used to.
How has fast fashion dominance over consumption in the West influenced the way we shop and buy?
Gen Z is both the first digitally native generation and the first fast fashion native generation. This means that many Gen Z and younger consumers have only ever known life with social media and fast fashion.
Social media has accelerated trend cycles into faster and faster microtrends. Consumers can either try to keep up by overconsuming fast fashion, or they can start cultivating their personal style and thrifting to shop more consciously (and affordably!).
Where do you see the future of secondhand and reselling headed?
The future of fashion is where content, community, and (re)commerce collide. Gen Z and younger consumers are looking for niche online communities for inspiration, connection, and seamless shopping.
Teleport is part of a 4th "wave" of secondhand and resale fashion online.
The 1st wave was the OGs of eBay and Craigslist
The 2nd wave was the unbundling of Ebay into more specialized vertical marketplaces like Poshmark, ThredUP, Depop, The RealReal, etc.
The 3rd wave was branded finally investing in their secondhand channels, and…
4th wave is where "community commerce" inspires consumers to make secondhand their first choice.
Everyone from Rimowa to Tommy Hilfiger is getting into resale with their products right now. How should other founders and brands think about engaging with the reselling market for their own products?
First, start with the why of engaging in resale. Some questions to think through…
Why does your brand or company want to invest in resale?
Do you want to acquire younger, more price-conscious customers?
Diversify revenue streams?
Sell through overstock or unsold inventory?
Meet sustainability goals?
There is no right reason as it will vary per brand, but the most successful branded resale initiatives have a clear point of view and position (think—Eileen Fisher Renew, Gucci Vault, Coach's Coachtopia). For context, until recently, brand owners ignored (at best) and actively resisted (at worst) the secondary channels for their products.
In particular, luxury brands were reluctant to acknowledge or invest in resale out of concern for diluting their brand equity. However, the most forward-looking fashion brands—whether luxury or not—have changed their tune as Millennials and Gen Z continue to drive demand for secondhand fashion.