Vestiaire wear for second-hand fashion


In terms of positioning and perception, Vestiaire Collective is the most luxurious and fashion-forward of the re-commerce sites. There's something for everyone, from Zara ("super-special exception") to exclusive Supreme drops, along with classics like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Hermès. The app currently has more than a million products online and accepts 35,000 new consignments every week. "This isn't just a luxury website; it's for everyone who loves fashion," explains Moizant, who's wearing a second-hand striped Chanel T-shirt and current-season Celine palazzos, which she will be selling online soon. "We want to show a panorama of fashion that reflects contemporary style of mixing high and low. Who wears head-to-toe Hermès? Some members are from the industry or in media, and many more from other careers or lifestyles – but the common thread among all our users is their passion for fashion."
Moizant and her partners have also identified a changing attitude towards the consumption, value and ownership of fashion items. Aside from being a trading platform, the app serves a new generation who values sharing and usage more than possession, who is addicted to newness, who doesn't own a lot for various reasons, yet who has one eye on value and another on style. Vestiaire Collective ran a survey among its members and discovered that "buyers and sellers have a value mentality more accurate than ever," explains Moizant. "When they buy something [at retail], they have a resale value in mind. Investment dressing used to be cost-per-wear, but now it's 'How much do I recoup if I spend $1,000?'"
She continues, "Vestiaire Collective facilitates a new and inspiring way of consuming fashion. You want new things, but you have to let go of others. We are closing this circle. This is not just a way of recycling, but slowing the pace of consumption, because it is going very fast – way too fast."
