She paid a tenner for it. It's worth around £600.
That's the kind of find that keeps Lynne Matthews, 52, from Swindon, digging through car boots and charity shop rails. The jacket was a vintage piece by designer Beatrice von Tresckow, and it's become her best-known flip, as she told the BBC.
But the real story isn't one lucky find. It's how a hobby turned into a steady income of up to £2,000 a month.
From selling the kids' old clothes to a full-blown business
Lynne started small. After her sons were born in 2003 and 2005, she sold their outgrown clothes to pay for second hand clothes in the next size up.
In 2015 she left her job to look after her poorly dad, and that's when the hobby became a lifeline. Reselling brought in extra money while she was at home.
Today she runs it from a shipping container she shares as an office with her husband, Sean, and spends about three hours a day on it alongside a part-time job.
Where she finds her stock:
- Car boot sales and charity shops, where she hunts for clothes that are well made and good quality.
- Wholesale bundles. In 2025 she started buying set bundles of vintage clothing from a wholesale marketplace.
- Anything that will make a profit. Her favourites are vintage Monsoon, 60s-style pieces and slow fashion, but she'll sell almost anything, even sleeping bags.
Designer and hand-embellished pieces go to the dry cleaners before she lists them on eBay and Vinted.
Holidays to Florida, Australia and Singapore, paid for by old clothes
Lynne takes home between £1,500 and £2,000 a month. That money has paid for her sons' school trips and family holidays to Australia, Florida and Singapore, plus a trip to Graceland.
She also found a whole community online. Since discovering reselling TikTok in 2024, she's built up more than 18,000 followers.
Her secret isn't waiting for the next £600 jacket. Her rule is simple: "if I can make money on it, I'll sell it." She puts small profits straight back into the next buy, and it snowballs from there.
How you can do what Lynne does
- Start with what you've got. Lynne began with her own kids' clothes. Clear your wardrobe first and learn what sells.
- Buy quality, not quantity. Well-made pieces sell faster and for more. Learn the grades and what to pay in our used clothing wholesale guide.
- Mix your sources. Car boots and charity shops for one-off finds, bundles for steady stock. Browse bundles from other UK resellers on Take The Lot, or search live stock from UK suppliers on Vault Pro, £4.99 for your first month.
- Small profits add up. Don't hold out for the big flip. Sell, reinvest, repeat.
- Know when to tell HMRC. Once you're buying stock to resell, you may owe tax. Our guide on when you need to tell HMRC explains the rules.
Got your own reselling story? Share it in the Whatnot UK Sellers group. You could be our next featured seller.