In the past few years, numerous second hand platforms have launched services to support the buying and selling of luxury goods. In 2022, Amazon launched Luxury Stores – a curated collection of designer fashion and beauty which comes with a guarantee of authenticity – in Europe. The same year, eBay extended its authenticity guarantee to handbags over £500 and, at the end of 2023, resale app Vinted introduced an optional service whereby sellers can verify designer items. These platforms join the likes of Vestiaire Collective, The RealReal and Watchfinder & Co. in capitalising on the booming popularity of second hand luxury.

The value of the luxury resale market is expected to reach $64 billion by 2025, and is growing twice as fast as the fashion industry as a whole, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group and Vestiaire Collective. Approximately $49.3 billion worth of second hand luxury products were sold worldwide in 2023, according to Bain & Company estimates.

People’s motives for buying second hand are split. The sustainability factor is, of course, important: staggeringly, fashion production comprises 10 percent of total global carbon emissions – as much as the European Union – says an analysis by Business Insider. Consumers are clearly troubled by figures like these, with Statistica reporting that, as of 2021, 42 percent of Millennials and Gen Z were ‘likely to shop second hand’. “Consumers are becoming more conscious of their buying habits and seeking out ways to reduce this impact,” says Eshita Kabra-Davies, founder and CEO of fashion rental service By Rotation. “Second hand and fashion rental reduces the demand for new products and promotes the reuse of existing ones.”

Cécile Wickmann, senior director of luxury at Vinted, has the figures to back this up: “Our recent Climate Impact Report showed that, in 2023 alone, Vinted members helped to avoid 679 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by buying second hand instead of new – the equivalent of approximately 512,000 flights between London and Los Angeles.” 

Another driver for consumers buying second hand is the prospect of sourcing vintage pieces, says a representative of Vestiaire Collective: “[Customers are motivated by] a desire to find authentic and exclusive pieces, and the thrill of the hunt.” Wickmann concurs, pointing out that “luxury resale provides an opportunity to buy sold-out collaborations or unique limited editions”. Of the pre-owned luxury items sold each year, the lion’s share are watches and jewellery, which supports the idea that many of these consumers are primarily trying to access out-of-circulation stock (people don’t necessarily think of watches and jewellery as polluting in the same way that they do garments and handbags).

Some of these vintage items buyers are able to get at cut prices – another draw, says Vestiaire Collective:  “In times of inflation, affordability and value are the first drivers for purchasing.” The value of pre-owned Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta has dropped 10, 14, and 23 per cent, respectively, over the past year, according to Robb Report, while Louis Vuitton handbags lose, on average, 40 percent of their value when they are resold, and Dior’s almost halve in value. For items that appreciate on the second hand market (pre-owned Hermès can fetch up to 25 percent more than new, while pre-owned Rolex and Patek Philippe watches sell at average premiums of 20 and 39 percent respectively), buying represents an investment.

In 2022, Amazon launched Luxury Stores – a curated collection of designer fashion and beauty which comes with a guarantee of authenticity – in Europe

The resale model can work in a number of ways: platforms like eBay, Amazon, Vinted, Vestiaire Collective and The RealReal operate on a C2C basis, whereby users sell luxury items directly to their peers (although they may offer a C2B2C service, meaning that products are sent to the the platform to be authenticated and perhaps photographed and listed before being sent on). Verification is crucial: issues with trust over authenticity is one of the biggest barriers to the second hand industry (when eBay launched its authenticity guarantee for trainers and watches in 2021, it led to a multi-million-pound uplift in sales, according to the company), so platforms need to be able to weed out counterfeits. 

Verification takes the form of an inspection, either in person or remotely. In eBay's case, goods that are eligible are checked by a team of experts (in the US, watches by repair company Stoll & Co, and jewellery by the Gemological Institute of America). For Vestiaire Collective, “the first step is digital authentication, which filters approximately 30,000 new products through their photos and descriptions,” says the company. “For items over €1,000, products are sent to our centres for physical authentication.” 

Vinted’s verification system, says Wickmann, takes place at a hub in London, conducted by an “experienced team of experts” who, for a fee, “meticulously [check] items for authenticity”. Rental platforms also have “strict verification systems”, says Kabra-Davies; By Rotation’s happen remotely: “A member of our team reviews each new item request within 48 hours of its submission, requiring lenders to provide detailed information and photos of the item.”

In the scenarios described above, the brand has no involvement. This, perhaps understandably, can rub some up the wrong way: luxury brands have long been wary of the resale market counterfeiting their goods and diverting their customers. Plus, luxury fashion is built on exclusivity and brand identity, and second hand resale would appear to diminish this. If Patek Philippe suspects you of ‘flipping’ one of its watches (buying one with the intent to sell it on once the value increases), you run the risk of being blacklisted from future purchases. Edouard Meylan, CEO of Swiss watch manufacturer H.Moser & Cie, has said: “It is important to control the sale of second hand watches to protect the owners and the value of watches already in the market.”

Increasingly, however, luxury brands view the second hand market not as a threat, but as an opportunity. “More and more brands are embracing [it], and I think this is a great development,” says Wickmann. “There are several very interesting opportunities for brands and resale partners to collaborate.” Similarly, Kabra-Davies argues that “fashion rental should be seen as an opportunity to further brands’ growth and awareness rather than as a hindrance”, and encourages brands to “list their pieces on our platform themselves”.

Brands are choosing to enter the market by partnering with pre-owned platforms, either to sell their unsold or pre-owned merchandise or, if nothing else, then to earn brownie points by encouraging ethical consumption – think Burberry’s partnership with Vestiaire Collective, or Stella McCartney and Burberry promoting the consignment of their pieces on The RealReal. You know what they say: if you can’t beat them, join them. 

There are myriad ways brands can get involved: for example, in 2021, Vestiaire Collective launched its ‘brand approved’ initiative, through which it partners with brands that authenticate their own pieces. They can exert an even greater level of control with the Resale as a Service (RaaS) partnership, whereby customers of a brand are offered the chance to resell their items on Vestiaire Collective in exchange for store credit at said brand. “They can ensure that their product retains long-lasting value while contributing to making fashion more sustainable and circular,” says the company. 

At the end of 2023, resale app Vinted introduced an optional service whereby sellers can verify designer items

Brands may also choose to invest in second hand platforms, so that they are at least retaining a portion of the profits. Or, they may take things entirely in-house: recently, e-commerce giant Farfetch acquired resale platform Luxclusif and, in 2018, Richemont acquired second hand retailer Watchfinder. Rolex’s pre-owned watch program offers timepieces that have been verified by the brand; Audemars Piguet trades in vintage pieces in exchange for new ones in some of its Swiss boutiques; and brands such as Zenith, Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier and Buccellati are all buying back special pieces for resale. Gucci has launched Gucci Vintage, a hub for restored archival pieces, and Gucci Continuum, a platform for products made from the brand’s deadstock materials.

It’s clear that the luxury industry is still sizing up the resale market, and experimenting with how best to interact with it – going it alone promises higher profit margins and control, while partnering with a platform mitigates the risks of entering an unfamiliar market. But what is also clear is that brands must, in some capacity, interact – those that don’t risk limiting their addressable market while still seeing their goods traded on non-affiliated platforms.

Of course, it shouldn’t just be about maintaining value and image. Brands have an ethical responsibility to encourage mindful consumer habits, and to respond to a need to produce less that has never been more urgent.

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