The first time I stepped into an op shop was during my first overseas trip to America. It was 2010, and I was in my late twenties, an age when I felt self-important. Having never seen an op shop, I entered the store with a sense of curiosity that comes from encountering the unfamiliar. The store looked like any other clothing store, neat and well-arranged. I wandered through the aisles with my eyes widening with awe to find treasures of the sophisticated world – Ralph Lauren dresses, trendy belts, figurines, bone China teacups sets, jewellery and much more – at a fraction of their original price. After what I believe was more than an hour, I emerged out of the store with a pair of heels.
This was a time when online shopping hadn’t yet become ubiquitous and buying pre-owned clothes had yet to capture the imagination of people from the subcontinent. While mending and preserving have always been a part of Indian culture and hand-me-downs from siblings and relatives were commonplace, buying second-hand clothes, even in cash-strapped, middle-class households, was a taboo. That day in the op shop, I couldn’t help but grapple with the hesitation that many Indians, including myself share towards wearing “used” clothing.
But with the dawning of the new age, as is always the case, the timeworn taboo has since lost its vitality, much to the delight of climate activists. Whether driven by affordability, convenience, or sustainability, the emergence of online marketplaces is gradually dismantling long-held cultural reservations regarding pre-loved goods. Over the past couple of years, Australia has witnessed the rise of ventures like Pyari, Sustainable Sarees, Chari Clothing, Lehenga Liaison, and All Borrow, catering to the growing demand for South Asian preloved clothes, jewellery, and decor items. Interestingly, clothing, shoes, and accessories, followed by games and toys, are the most commonly sold second-hand items in Australia.
Joining the bandwagon of online resale sites is Kifaayat, a startup founded by Sydney-based Megha Tripathi. She found the idea for her startup when she needed to downsize her wardrobe, which was overflowing with traditional outfits after her sister’s wedding. While she could find an array of online stores renting South Asian traditional clothes, she couldn’t find any site dedicated to buying and selling them pre-loved. That’s when she thought about bridging the gap with Kifaayat.
“Kifaayat was born out of a need to give preloved clothes a new home. The overwhelming response we have received in just a few months shows that we were not alone in this belief,” says Megha.
Megha, who grew up in Sydney during the 90s, dreams of making Kifaayat – which means savings — the ‘Poshmark of Australia’. And she has reason to believe in that dream – the website already boasts around 500 subscribers. However, the journey to the start-up hasn’t been easy, despite a more promising start than she had imagined.
Megha had a successful HR career spanning over ten years before she decided to take a break from work. Like many professionals, she too felt burnt out in her demanding job and longed to do something that gave her deep satisfaction. “After a decade in the corporate world, a sense of restlessness had settled within me,” explains Megha. “My soul longed for exploration and a channel for my creativity. I decided to take a sabbatical to travel, hoping to find inspiration to create something of my own.
“I also used this time to gain hands-on knowledge of startups.”
The ostentatious category in the market of pre-owned goods is designer wares, encompassing clothing, handbags, and shoes. Each country has its own popular platforms featuring weekly listings of renowned brands. In Australia, Pyaari is a rental site specialising in designer South Asian clothing, featuring listings from designers such as Sabyasachi, Anita Dongre, and House of Masaba. Meanwhile, in India, the popular American social commerce marketplace, Poshmark, made its debut in 2021, known for offering new and pre-owned fashion items, accessories, and shoes.
“One of the reasons for this space to grow is that Gen Z doesn’t want to splurge on clothes meant for limited occasions,” says Megha. “And I believe that in the coming years, there will be more demand for these in countries with a strong presence of the Indian diaspora, such as Australia, America, and Canada, because occasions to wear traditional outfits are fewer in these countries compared to India.
“We often receive queries from Canada and America for selling on our website. Hopefully in the future, we will expand our presence in these countries too.”
In the ever-evolving realm of online marketplaces, one advantage of the virtual bazaars is that they are well-positioned in the market due to the diminishing credibility of Facebook’s Marketplace. Facebook’s e-commerce platform, which is widely used for its convenience and accessibility, has become rife with scams of every sort and the latest is the fake PayID scam that trick unsuspecting sellers into sending money to scammers through fake PayID email accounts. According to Scamwatch, Australians lost $260,000 to PayID impersonation scams last year.
“Our advantage is that we are safe and secure [compared] to Facebook’s marketplace. While Facebook struggles with eroding credibility, one of the biggest challenges we face is to establish trust with shoppers as they are new to our platform,” says Megha.
Along with the sustainable consumption practices that Kifaayat represents, Megha’s envisions a future where the brand undergoes a transformative shift through preserving and promoting our rich cultural heritage while fostering connections. “I want to make Kifaayat a household name, a one- stop destination for buying and selling preloved Indian goods,” says Megha.
Harsha is a communication specialist and has worked in the Indian media for a decade. She loves tea, cherry blossoms, good conversation and all the books by Haruki Murakami.
