Fleek, an online marketplace for vintage clothing wholesalers and retailers, has raised $25 million [1] in new funding.

This investment comes as the secondhand fashion industry seeks to modernize its supply chain through automation. By digitizing the connection between wholesalers and retailers, Fleek aims to reduce the inefficiencies inherent in the fragmented vintage clothing market.

The company intends to use the capital to expand its AI-powered marketplace and scale its technology platform [3]. A primary focus of the expansion involves the automation of secondhand clothing sourcing and sorting [3]. These efforts are designed to help the company grow its global network of buyers and suppliers [3].

Central to this technological push is a specialized computer vision model. According to MSN, Fleek has built this model to help suppliers sort, grade, and price vintage clothing [2]. This allows wholesalers to categorize inventory more accurately and efficiently than manual processes allow.

Fleek will use the new funding to "expand its AI-powered marketplace, automate secondhand clothing sourcing and sorting, scale its technology platform and grow its global network of buyers and suppliers," Tech.eu said [3].

The funding arrives as the global demand for sustainable fashion increases, pushing more retailers toward curated vintage inventories. The integration of AI into the sorting process addresses one of the most significant bottlenecks in the resale economy: the labor-intensive nature of grading used garments.

“Fleek has built a computer vision model to help suppliers sort, grade, and price vintage clothing”

The investment in Fleek signals a shift in the resale economy from manual curation to algorithmic scaling. By applying computer vision to the grading and pricing of vintage apparel, the company is attempting to turn the unpredictable nature of secondhand supply into a standardized, predictable B2B commodity. This transition could lower the barrier to entry for retailers and accelerate the growth of the circular fashion economy by increasing the volume of processed inventory.