An exclusive profile in the RetailX Global Luxury 2024 report looks at how Vestiaire Collective is part of a new breed of pureplay online luxury sellers that are, in essence, member-only marketplaces. What sets Vestiaire apart is that is almost entirely a purveyor of second-hand luxury.
Launched in Paris in October 2009, Vestiairecollective.com has more than 7mn members, across 50 countries, with offices in Paris, London, New York, Milan, Berlin and Hong Kong. More than 30,000 new items are added by its community of sellers every week, which enables buyers to access around 3,500 fashion pieces each day.
The amount of second hand fashion in people’s closets is predicted to grow from 21% in 2021 to 27% in 2023 with the value of the second-hand sector forecast to be worth more than $60bn by 2025. Vestiaire is at the vanguard of riding this wave of consumer interest in pre-loved and re-loved fashion.
It is testament to the vision of its business model that the company raised €178mn in new financing in 2021, backed by global French luxury group Kering and US investment firm Tiger Global Management.
By investing in Vestiaire Collective and by being represented on the Vestiaire Collective board of directors, luxury group Kering is reinforcing its own strategy of supporting innovative business models, embracing new market trends, and exploring new services to fashion and luxury customers. It is also doffing its designer cap to the fact that the second-hand luxury fashion market is now a distinct and growing part of the sector.
The company may only have generated $210mn in revenues in 2021, but this belies its growing popularity, especially in the US. In recent years, Vestiaire Collective has grown at an accelerated pace in the US, which has become its largest market. In particular, since the beginning of 2022, Vestiaire Collective has been growing its US GMV at a 75% year-on-year rate.
The company has sought to grow this through partnering with US fashion resale site Tradesy. To best serve its expanded customer base and continue to position trust at the core of its business model, Vestiaire Collective has opened a new authentication centre in Los Angeles – its fifth authentication centre globally and second in the US.
This profile was authored by Paul Skeldon, and appears in the RetailX Global Luxury 2024 report.
The full report looks at some of the biggest and best brands in Luxury in our company profiles and company snapshots. We examine: Bottega Veneta, Bulgari, Burberry, Cartier, Christian Louboutin, De Beers Group, Hugo Boss, Kering Beauté, L’Occitane, Loewe, Our Legacy, Pandora, Prada, Secoo, Swarovski, Titan, Van Cleef & Arpels and Yves Saint Laurent.
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