Sustainability// A Hidden Gem For Vintage Lovers: Here’s Why You Need This App!
By Chloe De Lullington
6 March 2021
Ok, so forgive the clickbait-lite title, but hear me out on this one.
When it comes to thrifting and preloved clothing, not all items are created equal. Given the proliferation of fast fashion garments that quickly find themselves in charity bags or on eBay listings – research from Barnardo’s suggests that on average, each item of new clothing we buy is worn just seven times! - it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find secondhand items that didn’t originate from fast fashion labels.
When shopping in person, it’s easy to see the difference in quality; you can feel the fabrics, hold them up to the light, check the stitching and see any tears and faded patches. But when shopping online, it’s much harder to determine the quality and value of a piece. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with buying Primark and PLT and Shein items secondhand – they might not last many washes, but it’s always better to buy pre-loved than contribute to the demand directly – but if, like me, you’re making a conscious commitment to fewer pieces that last a lifetime, it can be frustrating to bid on what you think is a quality vintage piece, only for it to show up and underwhelm. I’ve been caught out before on eBay, and short of leaving shoddy reviews and attempting to open a case with eBay itself, there’s not much you can do to fight back against unscrupulous sellers slapping the word “vintage” on their decidedly un-vintage listings.
Enter, Gem: the vintage connoisseur’s secret weapon. I stumbled across this nifty little app by chance, and I think everyone with an interest in vintage fashion should download it! (However, if you, like me, frequently find yourself running out of storage space on your phone, there is also a website version.)
The premise is incredibly simple: type what you’re looking for in the search bar, and Gem will search across all of the relevant vintage listings on the internet, complete with images and price tags. You can be as vague or as specific as you like – from a little black dress to a particular item in a specific size by a named brand, Gem is designed to offer you the full smorgasbord of true vintage, sifting the wheat from the chaff and letting you compare options across different sites. If the thousands of results yielded by your initial search seem overwhelming, you can filter further, by price, size, gender, decade, and date added, which allows more tailored results while still retaining a vast amount of simplicity you simply don’t get on the likes of eBay. Click on an item and it takes you straight through to the listing. If you’re looking for a particular piece for a capsule wardrobe, or moving towards pre-loved “dupes” of current trends, it takes practically all the hassle out of the search, and makes window shopping from your sofa an absolute joy.
Plus, there’s no upselling or strategic product placement; Gem is a middleman pulling listings from the internet at large, so doesn’t have sellers paying for premium position or gaming its algorithm – which makes it all refreshingly straightforward. The app is free to download and free to use, and I have personally found it very intuitive and simple to understand and navigate.
The downsides? Well, there’s not really any. Gem is a US-based app, so if, like me, you’re in the UK, sometimes you’ll click on an item and it will take you to an Etsy seller in America who charges double the price of the garment to actually ship it to you (and even within the EU, I do wonder if Brexit will have an impact on shipping charges for vintage buyers and sellers). However, if you’re looking to invest rather than to swell your wardrobe with as much clothing as possible – and there’s nothing wrong with either of these approaches, of course – then this may not be an issue. Similarly, a lot of the pieces are quite a bit pricier than your average eBay or Depop bargain – but you can filter by price, and realistically you’re paying for the time and expertise of the sellers, many of whom are sole traders or small business owners with years of vintage knowledge, as well as the guarantee of quality for the item itself.
As much as I rate Gem, it’s important to note I’m not in the slightest bit affiliated with it and have no vested interest in getting you to use it – I’m just a passionate sustainable fashion lover excited to share my thrifting and vintage-hunting hacks with you all. With that in mind, if you have any related questions (or just want to share your vintage finds with someone who will shower you with excited emoji and exclamation marks!) just drop me an Instagram message over on @lifeinthechlolane – and don’t forget to share this hidden gem with your friends, too!
Chloe de Lullington is a writer and lifelong thrifter, interested in the repurposing of clothes and culture in contemporary life. Originally from Kent, she gained a First Class degree in English Literature and Film and Theatre from the University of Reading and now lives in Shropshire.