Secondhand. Preloved. Resale.
These are the buzzwords making waves in luxury fashion in recent years as the topic of sustainability rises in ranks alongside questions of economic, social and planetary wellbeing.
One can’t help but wonder why not as it allows one to look stylish, at easily half the cost while being kinder to the planet.
Digital platforms like Vestaire Collective, Fashionphile and more pioneered a new way of shopping at lower pricepoints while still maintaining authenticity for safe and secured shopping. Hundreds of thousands of luxury items from bags to watches await to be discovered at plenty of online spaces that see even more transactions a day.
Nonetheless, the stigma to buying resale still exists. As much as the space is an unpoliced one, we can do our due diligence in shopping verified, genuine and authentic products, beginning with these sites.
Fashionphile
The OG online luxury resale site, Fashionphile came about in 1999 and grew to become one of the leading and most trusted second-hand stores online for luxury handbags, offering almost every brand you might be looking fro from Balenciaga and Celine to Fendi and Dior. It’s grown to also sell secondhand jewellery, watches and accessories and most recently partnered exclusively with Neiman Marcus to allow the brand’s customers get on the pre-owned goods bandwagon. W fashionphile.com
Vestiaire Collective
Parisian brand Vestiaire Collective is the destination for those in the know with an online community of over 9 million buyers and sellers because of its vigorous and reliable authentication process. Every product added to cart goes through a rigorous quality control process to ensure it is genuine and it does this with all its items from almost every major brand that it sources worldwide. A big bonus it has is its alert feature, that lets you know when something you’re looking for in particular has been listed. W vestiairecollective.com
Rebag
Rebag focuses only on designer handbags, including clutches, pounches and totes, but between them, you can find almost every luxury brand known for bags, including Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Chanel and Gucci. Rebag is favoured by many for its return option within 6 months of purchase for credit worth at least 70% of your purchase price, a highly favoured feature for those who like to change bags regularly without having to pay for the full price. W rebag.com
Luxury Garage Sale
Available online and offline, Luxury Garage Sale sells an intensive inventory from brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hermès Christian Louboutin and more at up to 80% off. Additionally, it offers the service of complementary stylists for tips and recommendations for those unsure of their purchases, alongside a team of experts who will verify and validate products for guaranteed quality and authenticity. W luxurygaragesale.com
Collector Square
Collector Square is the European leader in the second-hand online market, offering luxury bags, watches and jewellery, each carefully curated by an expert team for verification. It also partners with Artcurial to evaluate the quality and value of items for accuracy in pricing. Shoppers love it for its promised worldwide shipping in 24 hours on top of its clear and transparent return policies. W collectorsquare.com
StockX
Unlike most reseller platforms, StockX works more like an auction place where buyers place bids, sellers place ask and then they meet, your deal closes automatically and live on the site. It offers intelligence to track price fluctuations all the while keeping its buyers and sellers anonymous. A lot of StockX’s items are brand new but they do also have a few pre-owned items, but all need to include a visible serial code, blind stamp or date code for authenticity verification purposes. W stockx.com
The RealReal
Based in San Francisco, The RealReal has three physical stores in New York and Los Angeles on top of its online site selling ultra-curated luxury consignments from handbags and shoes to apparel, accessories and even home goods and fine arts, all at up to 90% off. With its team of over a hundred experts constantly authenticating all its items, it promises a worry-free luxury shopping experience online. W therealreal.com
The Outnet
The Outnet is a spinoff little sister from Net-a-Porter, offering previous-season designer wear at heavily discounted prices. It carries all the brands you’ll find on Net-a-Porter as well as their exclusive in-house label Iris & Ink, often partners with high-profile designers on limited edition collections and ships to over 100 countries worldwide. They are also authorized online stockists for all the designers they carry. W theoutnet.com
The Luxury Closet
The go-to luxury resale site in the Middle-East, The Luxury Closet is curated and authenticated by a team of over 80 experts for the buying and selling of items including luxury handbags, clothes, watches and jewellery. Its plus point is its dedicated VIP concierge service in the UAE and Riyadh that help with a host of concerns for sellers selling eight items or more. W theluxurycloset.com
Farfetch Second Life
Farfetch launched its own arm of secondhand designer bags market that allows users to trade in their bags in exchange for credit for future purchases on Farfetch. Interested sellers need to only submit information and photographs of the bags they are intending on selling, which will then be reviewed by Farfetch’s partner who will propose a price within two business days. If the price is accepted, the consumer schedules a free courier pick-up for the bag to be sent to the team to verify and upon acceptance, Farfetch adds credits of the value of the offer to the customer account. W secondlife.farfetch.com