With more than €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) in sales last year on its platform and a new acquisition under its belt, second-hand clothes innovator Vinted believes it is starting to scare fashion retailers – for the good of the planet.

The group, founded in EU member Lithuania and a standard-bearer of the so-called “circular economy”, announced a new takeover on Tuesday of a Dutch competitor, United Wardrobe, for an undisclosed sum.

Once completed, the merged group says it will bring together 34 million users who buy and sell clothing online – from vintage to designer labels, as well as used high-street brands at knock-down prices.

Vinted chief executive Thomas Plantenga said the acquisition would “help us accelerate faster within Europe and I think that people who are trying to grow the new sales of fashion are afraid of us. I think that’s great.”

The company’s philosophy is that the fashion industry, long criticised by environmentalists for encouraging excessive consumption and producing waste, “needs to change . . . needs to be more circular and that will benefit society,” Plantenga told AFP.

The group became Lithuania’s first tech unicorn in November 2019 – an industry term for a start-up valued at more than $1.0 billion.

It raised €128 million from investors in a funding round that it said would allow it to double its then 300-strong staff and fund acquisitions.

This year’s coronavirus-related lockdowns in major European markets such as France and Spain dealt a severe economic blow when the group was forced to shut down its operations.

But Vinted believes it is well-placed to benefit from long-term trends driven by young, more environmentally conscious consumers shunning established retailers and so-called “fast fashion”.

And difficult economic conditions in Europe could lead more consumers to clear out their wardrobes to raise some money – the original idea of founders Justas Janauskas and Milda Mitkute who started the site in 2008.