This is how much people have made selling old clothes during lockdown

(Image credit: Netflix)

While some people decided to make the most of lockdown by learning a new language or going on a fitness journey, others decided to make money from their wardrobe, by renting out pieces or selling those they wouldn't wear again.

Well the results are in, and it turns out that Brits have made over £400 million collectively from selling unwanted clothes, according to a survey by Spaceslide.

The calculations follow research into the clothing, shoes and accessories that sell for the highest amount on average on eBay.

Based on the average selling prices of clothing types on eBay, men and women combined have made a whopping £430,728,288 since the beginning of lockdown, with men's clothing interestingly selling for a little more than women's for the same categories.

For example, the biggest money-making category across all items of clothing was trainers, and while women's trainers sold on average for almost £55, while men's trainers sold for closer to £80.

However, with women probably selling more than men, they still made up more than half of profits, earning £266,217,024, while total sales of men’s clothing from the clearouts is estimated to have hit £164,511,264.

On the flip side however, it was still estimated that Brits binned clothing worth £1 billion during the lockdown, meaning that not only could they have made more money from their wardrobe, but they would have ended up in landfill too, negatively impacting the planet.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.