The Vinted 'secret' hiding in plain sight: How a tiny hidden button lets you find EXACTLY what strangers are wearing in the street - and hunt down your long-lost fashion itemsSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy SOPHIE HINES, LIFESTYLE & DIGITAL EDITOR Updated: 13:06 BST, 17 July 2026
We’ve all been there. You’re sitting in a coffee shop, and the person at the next table is wearing the perfect summer dress – the one you’ve been dreaming of your whole adult life. Or maybe you’re scrolling through social media and spot a chunky knit sweater that screams your name. Your immediate instinct is to head to Vinted, the reigning champion of second-hand fashion platforms.But unless you know where it’s from, how do you describe it in a search bar? _‘_Greenish-brown vintage coat with big buttons’? Good luck filtering through 15,000 irrelevant listings.Fortunately, there’s a secret weapon your app that completely bypasses these limitations, and many people haven’t even noticed it: Vinted’s image search tool. In the top right corner, the image search tool allows you to search using a photograph.Despite being an absolute game-changer, a surprising number of casual Vinted users have no idea this feature exists. If you open your Vinted app and look closely at the search bar, you’ll notice a small camera icon nestled right inside it.By tapping this icon, you can upload an existing photo from your camera roll or snap a live picture on the spot. Vinted’s AI immediately analyses the colours, patterns, and silhouettes to match you with visually identical or highly similar listings. You will find similar-looking or even identical items, without needing to know the brand or product name.Whether you are looking to clear out your wardrobe or hunt down a rare gem, switching from typing to snapping offers two massive advantages:1. Spotting clothes ‘in the wild’See a gorgeous pair of sandals on social media, or a stranger on the tube? Just take a quick, discreet photo. Uploading it directly to Vinted does the translation work for you, instantly pulling up the exact item (or excellent alternatives) without requiring you to know the brand, year, or style name.2. Accurately pricing ‘unsearchable’ itemsThis tool is just as powerful for sellers. If you are decluttering your wardrobe and stumble upon an old, unlabeled top or a dress with no obvious brand identifiers, pricing it can be a guessing game. By taking a photo and reverse-searching it on Vinted, you can see what similar items are actually selling for, helping you list your clothes competitively and flip them faster.The real magic of visual search lies in its ability to solve seemingly impossible fashion mysteries. One friend shared how the feature rescued a piece of personal history: ‘I managed to find an authentic FCUK coat from 2013 that a dry cleaner had ruined. I’ve been trying to re-find it for years, but it was completely unsearchable because I didn't know the exact product name. In the end I reverse image searched a photo of me in the coat on Google, then found a product shot and searched that on Vinted. Voila - I had my coat'.It’s an extremely useful feature, because text search relies entirely on how well a seller describes their item – and let’s be honest, some of the product names and descriptions on Vinted are wild. So the next time you are hunting for a highly specific look or trying to price a unique vintage piece, skip the keywords and let your camera do the talking.
