Gen Z-favourite Depop hicks off hiring spree after Covid boost

Vintage fashion marketplace Depop has kicked off a hiring spree after having seen demand double during the lockdown. 

Depop, a favourite among millennials and Gen Z who are looking to buy and sell second hand clothes, said it would be growing its UK team by almost a quarter to more than 320 employees by the end of the year. In total, Depop expects to have 350 employees by the end of the year, operating out of London, Manchester, Los Angeles, New York and Sydney.

It has already made a wave of hires this year, adding 60 employees to cope with heightened demand. All of the 45 jobs currently live on the site are in the UK.

The London start-up said it had accelerated new onboarding in its engineering and product teams, after having emerged as a winner from Covid-19, with many staying away from the high street. 

Depop has previously estimated that  more than 90pc of those using its app are under the age of 26, and that a third of all 16-24 year-olds in the UK have tried it.

The app works is seen as a mixture of eBay and Instagram, allowing people to scroll through posts and like them, and then message each other to purchase products. Depop takes a cut of the sales on its app. 

In recent years, it has benefitted from increased interest in reselling among younger generations conscious of their carbon footprint and keen to move away from "fast fashion". 

Last year, Depop raised almost $62m (£48m) to expand further into the US, with chief executive Maria Raga saying: "Social shopping, independent brands and resale are gaining popularity around the world, but particularly in the US where Generation Z will be the largest consumer group by 2020. 

"This latest investment will enable us to scale further and faster.”