Poshmark's stock more than doubled on its first day of trading, in the middle of a pandemic that had closed most of America's clothing stores. The app turned closets into small shops. Sellers snapped photos of a dress or a pair of sneakers, set a price, and shipped with a prepaid label. Buyers followed sellers, shared listings, and joined live online shopping events. By January 2021, used clothing was selling online like never before.

Selling Like Socializing

Manish Chandra founded Poshmark in 2011 with Tracy Sun, Gautam Golwala, and Chetan Pungaliya. Chandra had already built and sold an earlier startup. The bet was that the iPhone would make selling clothes as easy as posting a photo, and that shopping would feel social. Poshmark kept the rules simple. It took a flat fee on small sales and 20 percent on larger ones. It held themed online events called Posh Parties, where sellers shared listings with each other.

A 140 Percent Pop

Poshmark priced its shares at $42 on January 13, 2021. They opened at $97.50 on Nasdaq the next day, and the stock closed up more than 140 percent. The gains did not last. As stores reopened and growth slowed, the shares slid far below the offer price. In October 2022 the South Korean internet company Naver agreed to buy Poshmark for $17.90 a share in cash, about $1.2 billion. The deal closed in January 2023.

Cover: At the Dressmaker, William James Glackens. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a fitting at the dressmaker (clothes changing hands).