#vinted

#vinted

There are some items that symbolise the gap between the person you want to be and the person you actually are. For me, that item is the leather trouser. Long the reserve of motorcyclists or try-hards (the Guardian in 2020: to buy a pair was to show the world that you were coping very badly with the ageing process), the trousers started to appear everywhere a few years ago.

I've loved sustainable fashion since my early teens, always more interested in stealing my dad's band T-shirts than anything remotely designer. Originally, it was a money-driven choice, but when I turned 15 I became acutely aware of the fashion industry's damaging impact on the planet and the unethical labour conditions behind high-street brands. I decided that wasn't something I wanted to be complicit in. Charity shopping became my favourite weekend activity and cheap, mismatched clothes began pouring into my ready-to-explode wardrobe.

Vinted is a second-hand marketplace that allows users from 21 countries to buy and sell used items, with nearly three million visits monthly.

After a two-year adventure as an English teacher in Japan, I landed in a large consulting firm. I was trained well, but the job track felt a bit conventional.