Second-hand used to be a taboo. No self-respecting fashion fan would admit to buying someone’s cast-offs, especially just a few seasons old. Fashion was all about new, new, new. Times have changed. Now it’s about the nearly new; pre-owned pieces bought for a thrifty price, just a few seasons after their catwalk debut.
At the same time, avid shoppers have become shrewd sellers, turning to booming consignment websites to shift unwanted goods quickly and conveniently. Previously, their options were donating or going through the inconvenient, time-consuming process of selling-on through bricks and mortar stores. Online, the vast eBay marketplace was their only obvious option.
Julie Wainwright, chief executive and founder of The RealReal, noticed a gap in the market. “As a shopper, you run out of space in your closet. After a while it just piles up. Before us your options for reselling were limited and clunky,” she explains. In five years of business (predominantly in the US), The RealReal has sold on 2.5m items. Chanel, Hermès, Prada, Rolex and Louis Vuitton are some of the biggest sellers. Consignors earn 60 to 70 per cent of the sale.