Closety, a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace for reselling pre-owned fashion online, has launched in South Africa.
Launched on April 1, Closety gives users the ability to resell lightly-used clothing that is in good condition through its platform, giving them their own dashboard for tracking sales, orders and overall activity around their Closety “store”.
The idea for the startup emerged when founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Lesego Seitshegeco tried to sell an item of clothing but could not find an online platform for doing so. More generally, Closety wants to disrupt the African fashion space, which has seen relatively little activity from a tech perspective.
“We are inspired by companies like Poshmark, Depop, Grailed and others, and would like to be the key player for fashion reselling on the continent. The market for resale in fashion will grow by 50 per cent in the next five years, 1,5 times faster than fast fashion as consumers are becoming more aware of the damages caused by fashion. As a company we want to be at the forefront of that growth in South Africa and on our continent,” Seitshegeco said.
The self-funded startup, which says it plans to seek funding once it has built a user base, is initially focusing on its home market but does plan on scaling.
“We do have plans of moving into the greater African continent as we grow, looking into markets where e-commerce, logistics and moving items around is simple and fast,” Seitshegeco said.
