As part of our ongoing Climate Action Campaign we have outlined these handy tips and tricks to help you get started with your journey of selling upcycled and second hand clothing online.

Eager to enter the world of selling ecommerce? That’s an understandable drive given how massively the industry has grown in recent years (with the growth being particularly rapid since COVID-19 left brick-and-mortar retail in such a sorry state). It can be hugely rewarding to run your own online store. You can keep costs down while making a good living and promoting the product types that reflect your worldview — and if you’re passionate about things like environmentalism, sustainability, and protecting the ocean, an excellent option for you is selling upcycled clothing.

After all, the fashion industry is notorious for supporting unfair working conditions, paying people far less than they’re worth, and backing items of clothing that don’t last so their customers soon need to replace them. That means there’s an incredible opportunity for you to do something different: something better. Selling upcycled clothing isn’t just practical from a value standpoint, after all: it’s also fantastic for encouraging the use (and reuse) of high-quality fabrics.

In this post, we’re going to offer up some handy tips for starting a business selling upcycled clothing online. They won’t guarantee success (that’s ultimately for you to achieve), but they will make it easier for you to move in the right direction. Let’s get to them.

While building your ecommerce store on a bad platform doesn’t prevent you from succeeding, it does make it markedly more difficult to get anywhere. The foundation of your site will affect everything from how quickly the pages load to how easily visitors can find what they’re looking for. It’ll also impact your ability to grow the business: not all platforms can handle heavy traffic, after all, while some are prohibitively expensive when used at scale.

When looking at possible platforms, cater to your particular needs. If cost is your primary worry because you have a meagre budget, look at services like GoDaddy: it offers a highly-affordable combination of domain registration and hosting, and features an intuitive interface. If you’re happy to pay more to get a better service, look at industry-standard platforms like Shopify. Take your time to review features and commit fully. You don’t want to have to migrate your site later.

When you’re selling clothing, visual representation is a mission-critical concern. The imagery you provide for each listing can make or break its changes. People are naturally doubtful of the quality of upcycled clothing: they can assume that tattered old items have been amateurishly patched up and put back on the market for some easy profit. Only through visual proof can you make it clear that you’re selling high-quality items.

To get your imagery right, you’ll need a strong area for product photography. Aim to create at least one excellent backdrop (it doesn’t have to be neutral) in an area that gets plenty of sunlight (with powerful artificial lighting at hand in case you need it), and play with positioning until you’re truly happy with how the items look. If you can have someone model them, so much the better: it’ll demonstrate your professionalism.