How To Resell Your Old Clothes Like Depop's Internet Girl

The past few months have been primed for picking up some new hobbies. Perhaps you're a newly initiated puzzle head, or maybe you've upped the self-care by impulse buying multiple hair masks for different parts of your head (or that could be just me). But most likely you're one of many using the extra spare time to do a full clean-out of your closet. If so, it's possible that you've also realized that going through every item in your wardrobe is a more daunting task than expected, which is why we've reached out to Bella McFadden, also known as Internet Girl and one of Depop's biggest sellers, for some sage wisdom on how to make the most out of refreshing your closet space.

McFadden has turned reselling old clothes into her own small business. She now maintains an office and full staff in Los Angeles to help her shoot and style products to sell on the online marketplace. She currently more than 600K followers on her page, who scroll through her shop looking for on-theme thrifted items.

Currently, however, she's stuck working at home solo, and has taken the time to tackle her own inventory and wardrobe. She admits that she's been cleaning out her own closet frequently, and is now down to maybe 20 essential pieces. While the novice closet cleaner won't need to go through their wardrobe as often, McFadden is still a trove of knowledge on where to start and how to tackle what may seem like an overwhelming project with ease. Read on to learn more about cleaning out (and cashing in on) your wardrobe, below.

Closet Cleanout Tip #1: Make a schedule

McFadden goes through her wardrobe roughly every two weeks, which may be more than what the average person needs. Still, she recommends sticking to a schedule to go through items to make sure your closet doesn't get overwhelmed with pieces that you don't need or wear.

"It's a therapeutic process for me to organize my closet," McFadden tells NYLON. "I organize my closet about every two weeks. It's really dependent on the amount of items someone owns, as well as the amount of storage they might have. I'd say to definitely take time to go through your closet – when you're in a good mindset — once a quarter."

Closet Cleanout Tip #2: Divide by color

Sometimes just looking at an overstuffed closet is enough to make you say, "I'lll do this another day," which is why it's important to have a starting point. McFadden likes to organize her closet by color and take it from there.

"What I usually do is organize my closet by color and as soon as I see a certain category that has more items than another, I'll refresh that category. Organizing by color is very helpful," she says. "I refresh my wardrobe all the time and as soon as I am not wearing something in my monthly rotation I will sell it on Depop. I think it's really helpful to stay on top trends and what people want to see when doing that, too."

Closet Cleanout Tip #3: Get rid of things with bad vibes

Taking a cue from the Marie Kondo school of sparking joy, McFadden recommends looking at pieces individually and assessing how they make you feel.

"I'll pick up something and if it's associated with a bad memory or something that I want to leave behind, I'll definitely start putting them in my style bundles or list it on Depop," she says.

Those jeans you wore all the time during a bad relationship? They're out. That necklace given to you by a former friend? You don't need it.

Closet Cleanout Tip #4: Create a cohesive image for your reselling page

When it comes to reselling old items, creating images that make the pieces stand out is crucial to McFadden. On her own shop's page, she often models the clothes or shoots them in her studio. Knowing that this may not be feasible for first-time sellers, there are still other best practices to create unique photos.

"The most important thing on Depop is to always have a striking image and for everything to have your own creative touch," she suggests. "So if you're doing a flatlay, you can choose a fabric that you love and shoot it on that or say you're hanging it on a wall, you can put a poster you love behind it. I think it's always good to add your own personal touch so that people can relate to the image more."

Closet Cleanout Tip #5: Make reselling safe and sanitary

Another concern is making sure that customers feel safe when shopping a page, and that's even more true right now. McFadden, who is currently working without her usual employees or access to her studio, has been keeping her social distance at home while also maintaining her business as normally as she can.

"I definitely, at first, felt like things were slowing down," she recalls. "As long as you're practicing social distancing, everything should stay safe and be nice and sanitary."