Former student turns reselling side hustle into £10,000-a-month business after initially seeking spare cash for a car

A former student turned his side hustle reselling vintage clothes into a full-time five-figure monthly business, after initially seeking to make about £200 a month to afford a car.

Scott Atkins, 21, from Glasgow, studied engineering at university and worked as a design engineer alongside his degree, and after looking for some extra cash to pay for a car on finance, he turned to a side hustle in February 2024, reselling second-hand clothes via Depop and Vinted.

While initially struggling to keep up when his job and studies became more demanding, especially when he needed to travel for three hours by public transport to reach his job in Edinburgh, Scott persevered with his side business until it started to return thousands of pounds in profit.

Scott took “a leap of faith” in April this year to quit his job and leave his degree to pursue reselling instead and, in May alone, he said he created £10,000 in revenue and about £7,500 in profit – giving him the “confidence” to know he could be successful.

Now a full-time vintage clothing reseller, Scott has opened a storage unit to cater for his vast stock, where he has found brands such as Levi, Carhartt and Dickies are his “biggest sellers”, and he feels a six-figure year could soon be on the horizon.

“I was only looking to try and make about about £200 a month from it, but I’ve scaled that into a five-figure monthly business,” Scott told PA Real Life.

“It definitely was a leap of faith but I was 100% confident it would work out.

“Now I’m nearly six months down the line and I’ve got my time back, I’ve got my freedom back and I work for myself.

“It’s definitely the best thing I’ve ever done and the most confident decision I’ve made – I’ve had no regrets.”

Scott originally worked as a design engineer for a defence company in Edinburgh, which he juggled alongside his university degree apprenticeship.

“I would work Monday to Wednesday, and then I was at university on Thursday and Friday,” he explained.

Scott decided to start reselling vintage clothing in February 2024 as a way of trying to make extra cash for a car.

“I was hoping to get a car on finance, so I just wanted enough money to cut that cost out of my salary,” he said.

“I wasn’t expecting to get anything extra to be honest.”

Scott said “it wasn’t easy” to get his reselling business off the ground.

“There were times where I was going through suppliers, buying all this stuff and sometimes getting scammed – sometimes you’re not getting great stuff and you’d lose money that way,” he said.

Scott then discovered Fleek, a vintage wholesale marketplace where sellers can buy branded, second-hand clothing in bulk.

“I could get stock without being shafted, you’re able to get genuine designer clothing for a fraction of the price,” he said, adding he now uses Fleek as the main source for his products.

From there, Scott started buying vintage clothing in bulk before taking photos of the items and uploading them to Depop and Vinted.

Despite this, Scott said “it took a long time” for his business to take off.

“For a lot of months, I didn’t even make £200 and sometimes I was making a loss,” he said.

Scott decided to persevere, saying he knew “there were people out there who were making money”, and he joined an online resellers group, ELS Coaching, where he sought advice and connected with others in the industry.

During the third year of his studies, in April this year, Scott decided to move to reselling full-time.

As he was staying in Glasgow but working in Edinburgh, he would wake at 4.30am to travel by public transport for three hours to reach his job, as he did not have a car.

He also said he could not stay in Edinburgh because it was “too expensive”.

By the time he got home, at about 7pm or 8pm, he would complete his university work and continue with his reselling side hustle by taking photos and listing stock.

Over time, Scott said he stopped enjoying his job and his university work.

“I was actually a few months away from getting my degree when I chose to leave and go all-in on reselling,” he said.

“I felt it was kind of going down two roads – I could have continued with my degree and people always ask me if I regret that, but I don’t think I could have made a better choice.”

Scott then moved his business into a storage unit, where he keeps his stock and takes photos of his products, and his monthly earnings have continued to climb.

In May alone, he said he created £10,000 in revenue and about £7,500 in profit.

“That was the first month going full-time, so it gave me a lot more confidence to know I could do it,” he said.

“It has grown exponentially from there, and I’m looking at £15,000 to £20,000 months as well.”

Scott said clothing items from Levi, Carhartt and Dickies are “big sellers” for him – especially Levi jeans.

To turn a profit, Scott said he will buy 100 pairs of Levi jeans from Fleek at £5 a piece, selling them for about £12 to £15.

He also holds a lot of stock, in his storage unit and at home, and he sells about 10 to 15 items a day – with about 600 products currently available on his Vinted platform.

“The more you have, the more you sell and it’s about trying to build up a store that’s got thousands of items,” he said.

While not a traditional career path with typical job security, Scott feels the current demand for vintage clothing will continue to grow.

“It’s really popped off and at the rate it’s going, I don’t see it going anywhere,” he said.

“Vintage clothing will always last, if you’ve had a pair of jeans since the 90s and they still look good, some styles never fade.

“Reselling hasn’t got the same security as a typical job but at the same time, anyone could lose their job at any point.

“I’m never going to turn around and sack myself.”

Scott said he does not pay himself a set amount each month as the business can still be “up and down”, but he estimates he has had a £55,000 turnover so far this year.

He also said between £35,000 and £40,000 of this is profit.

“For every £1,000 I spend, I’m making £4,000 in profit,” he said.