Sellers from depop, the online thrift shop platform, are starting their own fashion lines. Upcoming fashion starlets Annika Tova and Emma Rogue are prime examples of sellers-turned-designers. They started off as depop sellers and now have started their own fashion business due to being a massive hit on the platform.  

Annika Tova, who goes by Dr. Albert Frankenstein, has a collaboration with American streetwear brand Teddy Fresh and now created her own fashion line. Annika Tova started her fashion career on depop around 2016. Tova decided to sell on depop because of its “organic community with more inclusivity, expression, and diversity than a lot of other platforms” (Teddy Fresh). Tova makes custom pieces from second-hand clothing. She paints her own designs on these reworked pieces and then sells them via depop. 

In 2021, the streetwear brand Teddy Fresh, reached out to Tova and asked if she wanted to collab with them for their September drop. Together they designed eight limited-time pieces that sold out within a couple weeks. Tova has accomplished so much since starting a little depop page that led to a collaboration with a big-name brand. Now, Annika Tova is creating hoodies and sweatshirts with her own personal designs that are being sold on her personal brand website.

Another depop success story is Emma Rouge, with the opening of Rouge, a vintage shop in New York City. In 2018, Emma Rouge started her fashion business on depop, selling thrifted clothes that she found at Goodwill and other second-hand shops. She figured out how to work the depop algorithm, so most of her listings would end up on the Explore page. She would model her own clothing and take professional-like photos, and taught others how to do the same on TikTok. 

Rouge’s rise in social media popularity drove attention to her depop page, due this new fame she began to sell a couple dozen listings a week. Only three years later, with over 3,000 sales and 474.3K followers on TikTok, Emma Rouge decided to open her own store front. Her storefront has been visited by famous individuals such as Post Malone and Steve Lacy. She regularly hosts events where she sells her artist friends’ work. Rouge is currently celebrating its first year anniversary and has decided to expand to a second location east of Nolita in New York City.

depop promotes their merchants by easily displaying them on their Explore page. They have features like Sellers to Watch and Hot on depop that help customers find clothes from trending sellers more quickly. With all the promotion for their sellers, people can make enough profit and feel like they are able to create their own independent personal fashion brand. While Tova and Rouge are two of the most notable sellers from the site, we can’t wait to see other depop sellers follow Tova and Rouge lead and to create their own independent businesses.