Popular Voice: Second-Hand Luxury Business Is Thriving

Popular voice: second-hand luxury business is thriving

The RealReal bought and sold second-hand luxury goods, and expects to earn 1 billion dollars in 19 years.

Founder Wainwright thinks this is a good thing for luxury brands.

"Think about it: in 19 years, we will pay $500 million to people."

Julie Wainwright, founder of luxury resale company The RealReal, is discussing the benefits of circular economy and why selling second-hand clothes is a good thing for everyone, even the most luxurious brands. Zhu Li Julie

"We are putting it back into the economy," she continued.

That's a lot of money.

And (brands) gradually understand the fact that we are actually helping them, because once we take things away from your house, you have physical space.

Then we'll pay you.

It's not like paying for someone's education.

WOW! This is the fashion budget! "

The 61 year old businessman with a blond hair is petite but energetic. She sits in a black velvet skirt on velvet sofa in The RealReal store in New York, which opened on 2017 in Wooster street, SoHo.

Nearly 6000 square meters of space is divided into two layers, selling Stella McCartney, Chanel (Chanel) and The Row (and dozens of other brands) second-hand clothing for men and women.

There is a cafe in the basement, and jewel experts are preparing for site valuation, and business is booming.

She nodded to several women who looked at the "super size" clothes: "look over there."

Everyone carries a famous brand bag from the same store on the same street: this proves that the theory of winner is that modern luxury customers can buy or resell at the same price -- many luxury companies still deny this fact.

She was happy for her customers.

Her vibrant optimism and friendliness reminiscent of the Dolly Parton style, rather than the cool style related to the Dolly.

But she's the first to tell you that she's not a fashion person at all.

In March 2011, Wainwright set up an e-commerce platform The RealReal at the headquarters in San Francisco, with an initial investment of $100 thousand.

Shippers are invited to send their goods to The RealReal's special salesmen, who will send them to the Internet or sell them in one of their two stores after checking these items.

Prices vary according to brand attractiveness and status of goods, rating from "good" to "intact".

The owner can get 85% of the final price.

Mr. winter did not have any experience in the fashion industry before The RealReal.

Her previous career in technology was derailed by the failure of her online business, Pets.com, which went bankrupt in November 2000 (by the way, her husband filed for divorce on the same day).

However, in the past seven years, she has built a huge empire.

Today, The RealReal has hundreds of thousands of goods in stock and claims that 98% of its inventory will be sold in 120 days.

(now the online system is fully synchronized with the store system. When someone tries clothes in the fitting room of the shop, the clothes will not sell online.

Last August, second stores, which were two times the size of the first store, opened in Losangeles.

The RealReal also plans to open more stores in the future.

The development of The RealReal is just as breathless as the women behind it, though she soon admits that 1600 people work for her.

"In the first year, our total income was US $10 million.

Then I thought, well, I see, I'd better expand faster.

So I raised $288 million after that.

Our revenue in 2019 is likely to reach US $1 billion.

We may achieve this goal sooner. "

When he spoke, he kept watching the situation.

Young women -- 75% of her customers are women -- choose clothes at the side of a hanger.

The courier came and sent clothes.

These stores are busy backstage. Customers can bring clothes here to valuate and keep them.

Like ordinary clothes, The RealReal set up a high-end jewelry department within one year, and its business grew faster than any other department.

I noticed that 5 women bought the same dress -- a classic printed silk shirt dress, which looked like Gucci (Gucci).

When talking about the brand fever of Kering, he said: "Gucci has just replaced Chanel as the number one search item.

This is the first time Gucci has become the hottest search brand in our 7 year operation. "

Louis Weedon (Louis Vuitton), Hermes Herm (s) and Christian Lou Boding (Christian Louboutin) are among the five most searched brands.

And she saw an increase in search volume for Fendi Zucca logo and C line line in the era of Phoebe Philo (Phoebe Philo).

On the other hand, Armani (Armani) has not occupied an important position on the website for some time.

The same is true of Ralph Lauren (Ralph Lauren).

Like most technology led platforms, the Millennium generation is also the key to The RealReal growth.

"They really accept us because of their value," he said. "They like the brand, but they also like it."

The fact of circular economy.

They did not lose this information at all. "

In other words, they realized that they could earn a lot of money by selling things they didn't want anymore.

"They really make money."

Only a small part of the sales of The RealReal is International (at present, it has not yet collected products outside the US).

"The ratio is about 15%," said Mr.

She talked about the biggest market outside the United States. "Wherever there is a queen's head, or where there was a queen's head, she would do well."

"England, Canada, Hongkong and Australia", and "Korea has really appeared.

Is she planning to go public?

At the same time, she insisted on participating in every business detail, especially the stores. She said that these stores brought a new wave of shippers.

Ironically, many brands that used to be cautious about their business are now interested in The RealReal's business.

It is not that they all accept her.

In some areas of the industry, Mr. winter still has some real repugnance.

"Our popularity in luxury circles is that Chanel and Hermes still want us to go bankrupt," LVMH said. They found it very interesting.

We had a friendly dialogue and we worked together.

Sometimes you drive the fake out of the market.

They may not be willing to work with us, but they do not necessarily close the door slamming.

Then you have Kering Group, and they are actively working on ways of cooperation.

Those are European brands.

The American brand is cool.

She installed a set of store monitors in her San Francisco office to view people around her.

"We should probably wave to the security cameras," she said.

She doesn't like to see too many suits.

"Occasionally, I will call the store manager to see what these five people have done here," she said.

Because Here is the Deal'.

Like Here is the thing., this is her favorite phrase, "luxury brands are watching every move we make.

And I am very happy to show them and discuss with them what we are doing.

But it's a bad atmosphere for all these men to be obsessed with stores. "

Does she really think that people will peek at her? "She said with delight," they are certainly snooping! People are always trying to guess us! "

At the same time, Wainwright believes that The RealReal can only help these brands.

"We think we are supportive of these brands because if they sell well, they will support the primary market," he said.

In any case, 500 million dollars is a big fashion budget.