GUCCI AND THE REALREAL ANNOUNCE A GAME-CHANGING PARTNERSHIP

@Gucci

Just a few years ago, most luxury brands stayed out of the consignment and resale conversation. Some went so far as to speak against it, wary of counterfeit goods or the prospect of losing their market share. Gucci has recently announced a partnership with The RealReal, including a special Gucci e-shop stocked with consignors’ items as well as merchandise brought in directly from Gucci.

While resell marketplaces like Depop, GOAT or Stadium Goods are heating up the fashion industry, watch dealers like Chrono24 or Chronext are disrupting the timepiece market. In sign of times, Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet was intending to launch a second-hand business, becoming the first big brand to announce plans to tap into a fast-growing market for pre-owned premium watches, but after announcing the news it went quite.

The online clothing resale market has expanded 21 times faster than regular retail since 2016 and it is expected to more than double in size reaching USD 41 billion in the next three years, according to a report by online reseller ThredUp. With revenue increasing, brands and retailers that previously disliked resellers profiting from their wares are forced to act and acquire these up and coming players, in order to play a role in this market.

Gucci has its own ambitious sustainability goals; earlier this summer, it released its first experiment in circularity, Gucci Off the Grid, a line of accessories and streetwear made from recycled and regenerated fibers. True circularity requires “closing the loop” by taking back a product when a customer is done with it and either recycling, upcycling, or reselling it. That is surely the next step for many brands, Gucci included, but until it is logistically possible, the best-case scenario is that an item is given to a friend or resold on a consignment site like The RealReal, which currently has more than 17 million users. More so, for every Gucci item purchased or sold, The RealReal will plant a tree through One Tree Planted, a nonprofit working on global reforestation.

“Gucci is at the forefront of driving the fashion industry to become more sustainable, so having them recognize the role of resale and The RealReal in creating a more sustainable future is really powerful,”, Julia Wainwright, The RealReal’s founder and CEO says. “By encouraging their community to shop resale, Gucci will help us bring more people into the circular economy and show that resale is complementary to brands.”

“Consumers want access to certain products and brands, sometimes they are available on the primary market, sometimes on the secondary market. In my conversations with brands, they increasingly see that the secondary market, which is authenticated, and promotes a sustainable circular market is valuable for and creates more desire,” says Jose Neves, founder of Farfetch. “It is a win-win for both consumer brands and marketplaces.”

Wainwright also addressed the industry’s current problems of excess merchandise and barely worn clothes being thrown away: “We have to get people thinking about the life cycle of what they buy. One garbage truck’s worth of textiles is landfilled or burned every second. Fashion cannot continue being disposable—we have to buy things that are well made and resell them when we are done with them. Partnering and collaborating directly with brands, as we are with Gucci, is a meaningful way for us to harness their influence to increase exposure to the importance of circular fashion.”