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| Insta: @sarahlostctrl / @identitypartyshop Depop: https://www.depop.com/identityparty/ |
What degree did you graduate with and what year did you graduate?
I graduated with a politics BA from goldsmiths in 2018!
Has your experience of the ‘real world’ so far been positive or negative?
It’s definitely been positive, I loved my degree but it was nice to get out of education after studying for so long and being totally in control of my time!
When did you first start selling clothes on Depop?
What was your motivation to start doing this?
I first started selling clothes on depop in my first year of uni (2015), just old things I had to get a bit of extra cash! Then in my second year (2017) I set up my shop, I found 2 really beautiful dresses in a charity shop that weren’t really my style but I couldn’t leave behind so I put them on my depop and they sold in a few days... I loved finding cute clothes that had been discarded and giving them a new life with people who would treasure them so it slowly became my job!
How long has it taken for you to get the store following you have?
I gained 20k followers in the first few months and since then it’s grown steadily to 85k!
What’s been the best thing about running your own little business?
The best thing is definitely getting messages from people saying that my store has made them start buying second hand as opposed to new... I love the creative side of sourcing clothes but I also really want to transform the market and give people an accessible online platform that’s an alternative to fast fashion.
How have you coped with keeping your store going in these times of COVID-19?
I’ve had to change things a little due to the virus, I’ve moved all my sourcing to online and cut down my posting to once a week. I’m a business customer with royal mail anyway so I’m able to drop off all my parcels so that cuts down contact which is good! I’m incredibly lucky that my business is online so I’ve still been able to keep it going with some alterations for safety!
When you were in university, is this where you would have expected to be?
Definitely not, I always planned on going into more mainstream fashion and interned throughout my degree. As my shop grew I realised it would be viable to do it full time and I’m so passionate about it I decided to give it a go!
What advice would you give to someone who is going to be graduating in the summer?
My advice would be not to worry that you need to come out of uni and go straight into your “career”- it can be really daunting but actually you don’t need to find a job for life because you can gain experience and build on what you’re doing. Do something you care about and enjoy
and see where it goes!
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