Depop, the community-powered marketplace app to buy and sell unique fashion, shares its year one progress on its first set of commitments to reshape fashion consumption.
In January 2021, Depop set forth an intensive two-year plan designed to develop and promote a culture based around creativity, circularity, equity and exchange. Built across four strategic focus areas – governance, planet, people and platform – these commitments, focused on reducing Depop’s environmental impact, embedding equity throughout the Depop experience, and making circular fashion the first choice for consumers.
"At Depop we remain committed as ever to creating a better future for fashion – especially as we enter a new post-pandemic reality. Our plan is only the beginning of our goal of becoming the world’s most diverse progressive home of fashion, and year one was focused on building the right foundation for future growth and impact," says Maria Raga, CEO of Depop. "We’re proud of the progress we’ve made in just 12 months, and the community that’s allowed us to get this far. Our future is bright, and even brighter, with the strategic partnership of Etsy and the House of Brands family whose shared initiative will accelerate our goals and ambitions to drive impact at scale."
In its first year, Depop has made significant progress to drive effective and positive change within the company and across its global community. Key highlights after one year of our plan include:
The achievement of climate neutral company statusn in 2021, and as part of Etsy Inc., we set a group ambition to achieve Net Zero through near- and long-term Science-Based Targets while continuing to run a carbon neutral company[1]
The delivery of 9 major brand collaborations featuring circular or responsibly made fashion (Benetton, Levi's, Ganni, HURR Collection, Adidas Originals, Ace & Tate, Netflix, the BRITs Awards, Gossip Girl)
The achievement of living wage employer status in the UK
The completion of two Now/Next community investment programmes to support emerging projects with a positive environmental or social impact within our community
The formalisation of an ESG framework, including embedding sustainability and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) into key department objectives
"After an incredibly productive year, we’re already looking forward to iterating, developing and extending our goals for 2023 and beyond, in partnership with our community and the Etsy, Inc. House of Brands family," says Justine Porterie, Global Head of Sustainability at Depop. "It's now more important than ever to make fashion more circular, encouraging the reuse of what exists already. We believe we have a role to play in influencing behaviours in our community and the industry, but also in improving our own operations, ultimately supporting our mission to be kinder to both the planet and its people."
For a detailed view of our year one progress, please see here
For more information on our two-years sustainability plan and ongoing efforts, please reach out to press@depop.com
[1] Historically Depop has used the terminology 'climate neutral' in line with the South Pole label. Going forward, we will use the terminology ‘carbon neutral’ in line with Etsy Inc. and will continue to balance our measured GHG emissions through investing in verified emission reductions (VERs).