“Like Tinder for clothes!” says Vyne’s tagline. Vyne, the new thrifting app that launched Oct. 9 exclusively at the University of Maryland allows users to swipe right or left on clothes and reimagines the classic dating app formula.
Junior computer science majors Shaurya Saran and Vaughn Hatfield co-created the app last summer to promote sustainable fashion around college campuses and provide a streamlined way to connect sellers and buyers.
On Vyne, students can post clothing they want to sell and connect with potential buyers. If something doesn’t sell after 30 days, Saran and Hatfield donate the items to a local charity. What makes Vyne unique is the absence of shipping costs as the app encourages sellers to physically meet up with buyers to do the clothing exchange.
“Let’s say I’m trying to sell a $7 shirt, it’s not reasonable for me, a college student, to go drive to the Amazon post office, box it up, and then ship it out,” Saran said. “So that’s what we’re focusing on is spreading it through local communities so people can meet up around campus and make the whole process more efficient.”
As freshman year roommates, Saran and Hatfield became fast friends. The pair saw a need for an app like Vyne that makes the thrifting process more accessible for college students.
“We’ve always been interested in sustainable fashion because we saw a big issue in the fast fashion industry,” Hatfield said. “People are always buying new clothing and that leads to a lack of sustainability, so we wanted to promote sustainability on campuses and help students save money.”
The two started developing the app in May and worked tirelessly all summer to put out a product.
“In the beginning, we spent a lot of time reading, documenting and going through online forums to kind of learn new technologies that were required to build the app,” Saran said. “Then over, I think around two months, we were able to kind of go along, develop it and kind of get a simple product out.”
So far, Vyne has had more than 350 downloads since its launch date. Additionally, various student vendors at the university have partnered with Vyne to sell their items. According to Vyne’s creators, the app features around 10-12 different student-run businesses.
Typically, student vendors sell their products primarily through Instagram.
“We really want to help make the transition from Instagram to Vyne, so it’s just like one community for everybody to thrift and sell clothes on one platform,” Hatfield said.
Senior plant sciences major Anna Boyd founded her crochet brand, Slut for Yarn, two years ago. Boyd and her friends from a different brand, Old Town New Clothes, both recently partnered with Vyne to sell their items.
“I think [Vyne] is such a cool way to connect with that group of people and show them what I have to offer instead of the millions of people on Instagram who might not be interested in actually buying anything,” Boyd said.
Boyd liked that none of the sales actually go through Vyne, giving her the freedom to use whatever payment method she prefers; it simply serves as a way to connect with customers.
Saran and Hatfield hope to eventually spread Vyne to campuses nationwide to promote sustainability through thrifting and reduce waste.
The duo noted they are still working on adding new features to the app. According to Saran, they are implementing an AI system into Vyne that will curate a suggested-for-you section based on the clothes users have previously swiped right on.
“We really hope to spread Vyne as much as possible at the University of Maryland and help adapt and add new features to it, depending on what people like and what they don’t like,” Hatfield said.
Vyne is available for download on the App Store, with plans to release on the Google Play Store shortly.