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Second-hand fashion app Vestiaire Collective turns decluttering into billion-dollar business
- Gucci and Balenciaga owner Kering takes roughly 5 per cent stake in Vestiaire, which is eyeing expansion in Asia
- During the coronavirus pandemic, Vestiaire’s transaction volume grew more than 100 per cent year on year
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French luxury conglomerate Kering has bought about 5 per cent of Vestiaire Collective, boosting the value of the online reseller of Chanel jackets and Prada handbags to more than US$1 billion.
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Attracting one of the biggest names in fashion as a backer is a feather in Vestiaire’s cap. Kering brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga design products to last more than a lifetime and retain considerable value.
Vestiaire charges about 20 per cent commission for items sold over its platform. Launched in 2019, it keeps designer clothes in circulation that would otherwise gather dust in people’s wardrobes or end up in landfills, an antidote to fast fashion, which has become a major polluter. The global fashion industry produced around 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.
“Pre-owned luxury is now a real and deeply rooted trend, especially among younger customers,” François-Henri Pinault, Kering’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement announcing the acquisition.
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Kering fashion house Alexander McQueen, the Duchess of Cambridge’s go-to brand, is already collaborating with Vestiaire. Salespeople contact select Alexander McQueen clients to resell their purchases, and the clients receive a credit note in return, redeemable against the latest collections. Vestiaire’s trove of data on the second-hand market allows Kering to accurately assess the value of clients’ wardrobes.
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