Spring Cleanout Made Easy
Written by Greta Felton
With warmer weather comes a wave of long-awaited changes: restaurant patios reopening, long outdoor walks and a return to lighter, more playful dressing. All of it calls for a wardrobe that looks very different from the one that carried us through winter, especially as Wisconsin students.
One thing that isn’t specific to Wisconsin, though, is the notorious spring cleanout. For some, it’s a reset: a chance to refresh their closet and redefine their style. For others, it’s a dreaded process filled with piles of clothes and endless “I’ll wear this one day” justifications.
That’s where a little red circular logo comes in handy: Depop. Likely not a stranger to most Vault members, Depop is an online platform where users can buy and sell secondhand clothing, shoes, and accessories. With a younger, more curated feel than traditional resale platforms, it offers an easy way to clean out your closet while giving your clothes a second life. To many users, it’s become their own personal business.
With nearly 60 million registered users and over $1 billion in revenue in 2025, the app has become a major player in the resale market. Most notably, the company was acquired by eBay earlier this year. According to Forbes, Depop will maintain its name and community-driven identity, with the goal of bridging its trend-focused, culturally aware user base with eBay’s larger resale infrastructure.
Bringing things closer to Madison, on Thursday, April 9, Depop brand manager Sloane Furh attended the Vault x AKPsi capsule wardrobe event to highlight the benefits of shopping sustainably, with an eye for those with a more business-focused style. The event included a walkthrough of the app, tips for selling and sourcing pieces, and an open invitation for new users to get started.
What stood out most wasn’t just the platform itself, but how accessible the idea of intentional shopping has become. Cleaning out your closet no longer has to feel wasteful or overwhelming. Instead, it can be part of a cycle, one where your pre-loved pieces find new life with someone else, and where you become more thoughtful about what you bring in next.
Building a capsule wardrobe, for example, starts with editing down. It’s about having fewer, better pieces that actually work together. Like blazers you can rewear, denim that fits just right, and basics that can be mixed and matched across outfits. Whether you’re sourcing those items secondhand or rediscovering them in your own closet, the goal is the same: less clutter, more clarity.
And while platforms like Depop make the process easier, they’re really just a tool. The bigger shift is in mindset. Shopping becomes slower, more personal and more aligned with your day-to-day life, rather than impulse-driven or trend-chasing.
So as the weather shifts and your closet inevitably follows, consider this your sign to lean into the reset. Not just to clean things out, but to curate what comes next.
And for anyone fully embracing that early spring refresh, keep an eye out … there are talks of a Depop flea market coming to Library Mall later this April!
Edited by Avery Charlesworth and Claudia Rothberg
