Only a month after its expansion into juniors, online and mobile clothing consignment service thredUP is now expanding into women's apparel. This is the company's first step out of the kids' clothes market, representing a shift for the brand which has previously targeted parents — primarily moms. 

This morning,Beautiful The Latest Wedding Dresses the company will announce a Seller's Private Beta, meaning that it's opening up to those who want to unload their worn, but not worn-out, clothing by stuffing items into a provided, postage-paid bag which is then shipped back to the company. This is a slightly different type of beta launch than what thredUP did when it opened up to juniors' clothing in January. At that time, the company allowed anyone to send in teens' clothes. (That store has not yet launched.) 

The company says that it's going the private beta route for women's clothing because of the complexity of women's clothing sizes and the related inventory management hurdles. A limited number of users from those who sign up on the waitlist here will be let in initially. 

That thredUP was looking to expand to new verticals is not a surprise, however.Couture zuhair murad Spring-summer 2013 · When the company announced its $14.Elegant mori lee bridesmaid dresses in a wide range of colors.5 million Series C this past fall, these expansions were top on the startup's to-do list.so happy with the resurgence of long sleeves wedding dress. Future verticals also include maternity, and then finally, men's clothes if those earlier plans still hold true. 

But critical to thredUP's success is not just the ability to scale its operations and user base, but also whether it can effectively compete with other companies who have made a name for themselves as a way to buy used clothing online. 

It goes without saying that well-established marketplaces like eBay still hold onto a lot of mind share here, but newcomers in the clothing swap/consignment/reselling space are also after those who might have previously dropped clothes off at a local brick-and-mortar establishment, for example, or put clothes in a yard sale, instead of simply donating them. 

As thredUP moves beyond its kids' clothes niche,Search our wedding photo gallery for thousands of the best strapless wedding dress pictures. it will end up competing with startups like the well-heeled Threadflip backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, First Round, Greylock and others, 99Dresses, newer arrival Twice, plus Poshmark, and several others, including the more locally-focused, or narrowly aimed (e.g. wedding dresses). 

And as as you can see below, some of these services already have a bit more traction than the others.