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What do Spotify and Depop have in common? A love for secondhand fashion.

The music platform has joined forces with Depop to dig into the closets of six emerging artists.

Secondhand fashion may be going mainstream, but Depop is betting that music can give shoppers another reason to dig through someone else’s closet, especially when that closet belongs to an artist they love.

Depop and Spotify have rolled out their first partnership, bringing together six artists—Eve, Amira Elfeky, Estevie, Frost Children, House of Protection, and Lily Meola—to connect music discovery with secondhand shopping. Each artist is opening a Depop storefront featuring pieces from their own wardrobe, while an accompanying Spotify playlist features their music alongside songs that have inspired them.

The partnership also included a Los Angeles activation spread over two days that featured performances and genre-inspired fashion experiences.

For Depop, the collaboration comes as the resale platform looks to tap into the long-existing relationship between what shoppers listen to and what they wear.

“Music is a shared interest,” Steve Dool, senior director of brand and creative at Depop, told Retail Brew. “They don’t really separate fashion inspiration and music inspiration as two separate things.”

That connection is evident in shoppers’ behavior, per Dool, as festival season creates an increase in searches, while tours can make particular fashion items popular. He pointed to cowboy hats surrounding Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour as one example.

Artist closet drops can additionally bring musicians’ existing audiences onto Depop, giving the platform a way to reach new consumers. Spotify, meanwhile, used its listening data to identify emerging genres and found that many had unique aesthetics attached to them, Jem Michael, associate marketing director at Spotify, told Retail Brew.

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“Fans are looking to connect on more than one level is what we’re seeing,” she said. “If you love someone’s music, you’re digging in deeper. You want to know about what they’re listening to, where they’re going to, what art’s inspiring them, what fashion’s inspiring them.”

The partnership is a way for both companies to turn that curiosity into cross-platform discovery. For instance, a Spotify listener could encounter an artist through the playlist before exploring their wardrobe on Depop, while someone drawn to a piece of clothing could end up discovering the artist behind it.

“If someone walks away having seen a new artist, a new song, or seen a new piece of clothing, or gotten some kind of new source of inspiration on any front, and kind of like diving into this ecosystem is going to be a win,” Michael said.

Depop will also track more traditional metrics, including sign-ups, sales, and in-app engagement, but Dool said the ultimate goal is nurturing the brand’s connection with secondhand fashion and culture as resale expands beyond its early Gen Z adopters.

“The biggest difference is that secondhand shopping is mainstream,” Dool said. “Gen Z were the early adopters, but they’ve also been able to influence and kind of help usher secondhand fashion into the mainstream.”

About the author

Jeena Sharma

Jeena covers the business of luxury and fashion, reporting on the brands and strategies shaping the global retail landscape.

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

By subscribing, you accept our Terms & Privacy Policy.