Bella McFadden made headlines early in the pandemic as the first person to hit £1 million in sales on Depop, the London-based tech platform that has become Gen Z’s go-to shopping platform for used and vintage apparel.
On Saturday, she’s opening her first brick-and-mortar space: iGirl, a tiny, 210-square-foot storefront on Third Street near Avenue A.
McFadden, 28, earned a following online — where she and her brand are known as internetgirl or iGirl — as a vintage reseller with an eye for Y2K style that Vogue once described as “red-hot mallrat fashion.”
She moved to New York City from Los Angeles in September, specifically to launch her retail space. But navigating local real estate has come with a steep learning curve.
“They said it was 300 square feet, but when I got the architectural floor plan, it’s actually 210,” McFadden said in a recent interview at her store. “They were like, ‘Oh, well it says approximately on the lease.’”
McFadden made a name for herself by thrifting cheap finds in her hometown of Winnipeg and selling them for modest markups on Depop. She also built a following for selling stylized “bundles,” outfits aligned around a theme, such as “off-duty ballerina” or “teacher’s pet.”
She’s since branched out with her own iGirl brand of accessories and apparel. One of her earliest and most popular items, the iGirl pendant necklace introduced in 2017, sells for $25. She now estimates that the brand and website sales make up 80% of her revenue, with the remainder coming from Depop thrift sales and bundles.
A Depop spokesperson declined to provide details on McFadden’s performance on the platform but confirmed that she remains one of its invite-only “top sellers.”
When McFadden decided to finally risk a brick-and-mortar enterprise, she said her decision ruled out staying in Los Angeles.
“It’s the lack of foot traffic,” she said. “Everyone drives there. I’m not super familiar with New York, but I knew this would…
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