🛒 Just a few years ago, the words “second-hand clothing” in Egypt carried a specific cultural stigma that left little room for conversations around sustainability, style, or affordability. Today, inflation and conscious consumerism have shifted that narrative, as the “Wekala” thrifting phenomenon has steadily made its way into wardrobes. Libsy CEO and co-founder Lara Soliman (LinkedIn) found a viable gap in the market for a more regulated fashion ecosystem powered by the clothes already sitting in Egyptians’ wardrobes — and made that happen in 2024 with her own resale app.

With more than 30k organically acquired users now under its belt, Soliman’s vision appears to have struck a chord with Egyptian consumers. Before diving into market research, Soliman looked at her own unmet needs. “I think it’s funny; I didn’t actually want to be an entrepreneur. It’s just that the problem revealed to me was so strong, and the solution felt so clear that I couldn’t ignore it,” Soliman tells EnterpriseAM.

Taking a leap into fashion resale

Soliman was an early thrifter in Egypt, often going on parent-disapproved Wekala trips during her summer and winter visits 10 years ago. Having spent most of her life in Europe and the US, her passion for second-hand fashion was already thriving through Berlin’s kilo stores, New York City’s vintage shops, and popular resale apps like Vinted and Depop. By the time she returned to settle in Egypt during the pandemic, Wekala had become cool, thrifting was finding a local mainstream audience, and clothing swaps were a regular fixture among her friends.

With a background in international studies and economics and an early career in data and development, a move into fashion was hardly the next step for Soliman — but it was what allowed her to fulfill her dream of creating “direct impact.” Together with her childhood friend, fellow thrifting enthusiast, and data and econometrics specialist Thomas Wieringa (LinkedIn), she co-founded Libsy. Wieringa, the team’s sole developer, built the entire app from scratch, handling everything from back-end and front-end to operations and logistics.

Libsy didn’t rely on big-budget marketing campaigns to persuade Egyptians — having only invested in two ads since launching. Instead, much like Soliman herself, its users were already searching for exactly this kind of platform. What Libsy did was simply tap into an existing demand to help people give their clothes a second life while discovering pieces that already had one. “The fact that we grew so fast, so organically, is proof that I’m just facilitating an interaction that was happening and going to happen either way, whether with or without me,” Soliman says.

Closets waiting to be monetized

With Libsy, Soliman’s goal was to convince people that thrifting and vintage shopping are accessible. While second-hand shopping is often associated with cheap, low-quality items, she argues it can just as easily mean discovering vintage pieces with once-expensive price tags. Although the platform encourages recirculating pre-owned items, around 60% of the listings are brand new with tags that have been worn only once — or never at all. That variety is reflected in Libsy’s equally diverse user base.

Soliman’s prelaunch market research revealed to her that older generations, who aren’t as exposed to the fashion trend as younger generations, are also on board. “We definitely aim to cater to that wide range of pricing, people, and needs,” Soliman explains. That broad range spans university students looking to turn overflowing closets into extra cash for their matcha outings with friends, avid collectors buying and selling designer vintage pieces, and moms hoping to sell the clothes that their kids outgrow almost overnight.

Whether seasoned thrifters or first-time resale shoppers, consumers often ask the same questions: Is this item actually clean? Where did it come from? What happens if it arrives with a defect? How do I return it? That’s where Libsy comes in, Soliman explains, to build that infrastructure of trust and reduce the risks associated with the experience.

The streamlined Libsy experience

Like most shopping apps now, the platform uses an AI-powered recommendation model to learn users’ preferences and direct them towards items that match their taste and style. Libsy’s special brand comes in with its thorough buyer protection process, designed to make the experience as trustworthy as possible. Every purchase includes a mandatory buyer protection fee on top of the item’s price, allowing Libsy to put each order through what Soliman describes as a “diligent quality control” process before it reaches the buyer.

The process goes as follows: One of Libsy’s in-house drivers picks up the item directly from the seller and transports it to the company’s quality control center where it undergoes inspection for defects and, most importantly, any discrepancies between the item and its listing — supported by a renowned UK-based resale authentication company. The process also includes optional in-house dry cleaning services. “Then and only then will we actually deliver [an item] to the buyer,” Soliman says. According to Soliman, 89% of listed items pass the test.

Soliman also proudly acknowledges that Libsy has empowered people to sell items and enter the market without barriers. “Our users have made mns [of EGP] on our platform. We’ve had a lot of people also reach out to us and say, ‘You’ve really helped me out in a difficult time of my life,’ which really means a lot to me,” Soliman says.

Unlike most e-commerce platforms that rely on large warehouses to store inventory, Libsy’s 70k pieces of inventory exist almost entirely in users’ wardrobes through an app. That’s why scaling for Libsy is far less capital-intensive. “We’re able to handle a super high volume of orders at our quality control hub in a day, and none of the items stay there for longer than 24 hours. It’s a very scalable system. We’re a very lean company in general,” Soliman says.

Beyond the wardrobe

Libsy has its sights set on closets beyond Cairo, with ambitions to expand across Egypt — and eventually the wider MENA region — while achieving same-day or next-day delivery. Right now, the company’s first step is opening the platform to buyers in more Egyptian cities — Soliman says it’s definitely on their roadmap over the next three to five years.

For Soliman, the most satisfying part of building Libsy is watching an idea evolve “from a figment of your imagination to an actual living, breathing thing.” She recalls journaling, just before the app’s launch two years ago, that her immediate goal was to get Libsy off the ground and funded. Today, that has come full circle as Libsy recently closed its pre-seed funding round, backed by both institutional VC and angel investors.