This week, a look at why more brands are launching resale. Scroll down to use Glossy+ Comments, giving the Glossy+ community the opportunity to join discussions around industry topics.
Brands are launching branded resale to sell their older pieces. That’s both as marketplaces refocus on sourcing supply from individual sellers and as “archive fashion” gains traction among shoppers.
On July episode of the Glossy podcast, Rati Sahi Levesque, the RealReal’s president and chief operating officer, said the company is no longer buying unsold inventory from brands as part of its plan to be profitable. Likewise, resale marketplace Vestiaire Collective only allows individual sellers to sell on its peer-to-peer platform.
According to analysts, marketplaces want to avoid getting bogged down by an abundance of inventory that may not sell. On the company’s fourth-quarter 2021 earnings call, The Real Real CFO Robert Julian said the company stopped buying from brands during Covid, “when we were challenged to get supply into being people’s homes.” Marketplaces’ move to refuse inventory from brands comes as many are introducing a consignment offering. However, archive fashion does have an audience, and resale could prove a valuable sales channel for brands.
Brand archive building gained attention last year when Instagrammer Casey Jackson posted an Anna Sui fall 1998 dress for sale on Poshmark, after which Sui asked if she could buy it. Today, TikTok, is awash with people sharing their latest vintage hauls. The hashtag #vintageclotheshaul has over 2.1 billion views on the platform and #archivefashion has 328 million.
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In step, brands have been releasing popular styles from the past, helping to fuel the “archive” concept. In 2022, Marc Jacobs launched an archive program dubbed (M)Archives, which features reissues of its popular bags from past collections. For example, the Stam bag that was first released in 2005 was reissued through the program in March. And this year, Fendi, Prada and Gucci also reissued popular bag styles from the early 00’s.
In 2013, Mansur Gavriel launched with a popular bucket bag style. A year later, it was among the top 3 most-searched items on personalized fashion marketplace Lyst. And, when released in new colorways in 2015, it sold out within an hour. But the brand has had trouble replicating the bag’s success with its subsequent launches of shoes and ready-to-wear. As part of the brand’s 2023 revamp under Maria Borromeo, its CEO as of May, it introduced resale on its own site, in partnership with brand recommerce platform Recurate. MG Forever resale page, launched on October 12 with 23 archive pieces. Today, shoppers can find some of the brand’s former best sellers that are no longer offered at retail. Among them are its oversized Cloud Clutch in ocean blue and its Half Moon bag. MG Forever features inventory supplied by the brand, plus it hosts peer-to-peer selling — Mansur Gavriel authenticates each piece and checks it for damage. The brand declined to share its current sales numbers.
“There is always fallout with the launch of an [added] collection, because you just can’t support the amount and breadth of your product offerings. So we are trying to control that,” said Borromeo. “Our strategy going forward is, as we’re developing new collections, we are shopping and taking inspiration from our archive, and releasing pieces that had been developed that nobody has seen before.”
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Mansur Gavriel has seen a revival in the popularity of its original styles. Its original bucket bag was carried by Sienna Miller in May and Naomi Watts in June. As a result, the brand is delving into its physical and image archives, which are stored and cataloged in New York, and reintroducing older styles on MG Forever. In addition, in the main line, it will be bringing back items that it had discontinued but that the customer is still asking for.
“It’s mitigating our inventory risk, as opposed to just chasing newness,” said Borromeo. “There’s a movement toward shopping your own archives. There are so many pieces that have never actually been launched. If we have samples and they are one of a kind, then we will [sell] them on our resale platform.”
The data from resale marketplaces underlines the demand for vintage and archive pieces, regardless of the supply source. “[Often] these pieces have already proven their value retention over time and are thus frequently considered investments as well as functional items,” said Dominik Halas, master authenticator of vintage at The RealReal. “Gen Z has driven the rise in vintage, particularly due to the virality of key vintage pieces from the past, especially when celebrities or influencers wear them.”
In addition, seasons-old styles offer a new value proposition. “The fashion industry is moving faster and faster, and as a result, what is and isn’t in fashion becomes a harder thing to chase, compared to fashion before the 2000s,” said Nada Shepherd, co-founder of recommerce platform ReSuit.
However, “archive shopping” strategies only work for quality items. “Covetable products that people are excited about and retain value over time lead to successful branded resale,” said Recurate CEO and co-founder Wilson Griffin.
For its part, Mansur Gavriel has so far focused the marketing for MG Forever on the limited nature of the styles being sold. That way, the feature reads as elevated, rather than as a dumping ground for excess inventory. It’s planning to launch a more extensive marketing push for the offering in the next year.
Other premium brands are also introducing recommerce to sell older pieces. A spokesperson for Andrea Liebermans’ fashion brand, ALC, said the brand plans to build on its ALConscious resale inventory, currently made up of customers’ worn styles, with seasons-old styles from its own inventory. ALConscious launched in partnership with circularity platform Archive and reverse logistics platform SuperCircle on September 26.
And finally, resale provides a service to a brand’s shoppers — both those looking to buy and those looking to sell. “Things like returns can be de-risked knowing when a customer knows they could eventually come back and sell that product and earn store credit to put toward something else,” said Griffin.
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