An employee at Vestiaire Collective, an online marketplace for buying and selling pre-owned designer clothes and accessories, checks on clothes in Tourcoing, France, December 4, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
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PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) – Online fashion sales platform Vestiaire Collective said on Wednesday it is expanding into South Korea, choosing the fast-growing luxury market as a springboard for a deeper push into Asia.
The expansion of the Paris-based tech startup, which achieved unicorn status last year, comes as sales of pre-owned fashion continue to grow rapidly, driven by young and environmentally conscious shoppers looking for second-hand clothing bargains.
The platform is available in Korea and the company is adding a verification site for its operations in Seoul.
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While luxury labels have traditionally been wary of second-hand sellers, more and more are looking for ways to engage in the market, in part to engage with younger consumers or to offer more services to high-spending consumers.
Investors in Vestiaire Collective include French luxury group Caring SA ( PRTP.PA ), which took a 5% stake last year, as well as private equity firm Eurazeo SE ( EURA.PA ), Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp ( 9984.T ), a U.S. investment. Firm Tiger Global Management and Vogue publisher Conde Nast.
In the year The platform, founded in Paris in 2009, sells fashion and leather accessories from luxury labels such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada and Dior, and in May had its biggest transaction – a Hermès Birkin bag that sold for 158,000 euros ($160,117).
($1 = 0.9868 EUR)
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Reporting by Mimosa Spencer; Editing by Christopher Cushing
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