I started my side hustle as a college dropout & I’ve raked in £1million by flogging old clothes – here’s how I did it
MEET Bella McFadden, a 28-year-old who’s become the first-ever seller to rake in £1million by flogging old clothing online.
The young woman, from Canada, joined the online app Depop over five years ago and has since made some serious profit, largely due to the pandemic which hit the world in 2020.
According to Bella, who calls herself the Internet Girl, the sales went up by a staggering 146 per cent around the lockdown time, she said in an interview with Fast Company.
The 28-year-old fashionista, whose office is based in Los Angeles, explained how Covid-19 was a real blessing to her business – although she’d expected her style venture would slow, the exact opposite happened.
As people were forced to stay indoors and not socialise, many turned to Depop to replenish their wardrobes – and this saw Bella’s fashion page become more popular than ever, especially with the current thirst for Y2K-inspired style.
This, Bella explained, worked in her favour, as the younger generation loves it – and an estimated 90 per cent of Depop users are under the age of 26.
“That’s the way fashion should be,” she added.
“We shouldn’t be contributing to the pollution, but finding creative ways to avoid it.”
Typically, to break into the world of fashion, you need to first go to design school, work for a fashion house, or find the network of the right people – however, Bella managed to succeed without any of the key essentials.
Growing up, Bella always had interest in all things fashion – but never thought she’d be able to make a name for herself, as she wasn’t well-connected enough.
It was around her college years that she came across Depop and started flogging vintage garments she’d found in charity shops and styled to make them look cool.
In 2016, she made the decision to drop out of college and made the Depop platform her full-time gig.
As of now, the fashionista has sold over a whopping 40k items, some of which are vintage buys, as well as carefully curated and designed bits she’s manufactured herself.
Looking at how far she’s come, the 28-year-old insisted that a lot of her success has come from building a strong presence and a large following on social media.
The Internet Girl boasts close to 330k followers on Instagram, over 146k subscribers on her YouTube platform, as well as 377k fans on Depop.
Over the years, her business has expanded so much, Bella has also hired four employees to help with every aspect of the venture – whether that’s travelling across the country to source items to sell, designing new items and styling outfits for shoppers based on their taste and body shape.
Although it may sound like an easy side hustle, the fashion lover admitted she spends hours every day working on her brand to ensure everything fits the certain aesthetic she’s after at the time.
One week, for instance, Bella is all about a princess look, whilst the following week she’s promoting a more futuristic style.
Bella also carefully chooses the location of her photoshoots, such as abandoned hangars or dark alleys.
“I start shooting at about eight in the morning, and don’t finish till seven or eight at night.”
As well as her incredible 90s-inspired style, Bella has also become famous for her ”styling bundles”, which blend together items she designs with vintage garments.
Each week, she added, there’s a new theme, for instance, Bedroom Pop Baddie, Gloomy GF and Daydream Ditz.
For an additional £160, her team and Bella will also create a full look, based on the theme, as well as the shopper’s preferences and their measurements.
“I felt like the lone goth in my high school, like I didn’t fit in,” the 28-year-old Depop pro went on.
“I want to be a place where people can come for these outfits. And if they don’t know how to start styling these looks, I want to help them.”