Balenciaga is pushing further into the resale market. After a successful pilot, the Kering-owned brand has formally launched a partnership with white label resale platform Reflaunt, in which Balenciaga CEO Cédric Charbit is an investor.
The tie-up allows customers to sell their pre-owned Balenciaga clothing and accessories in return for store credit. Customers can drop off items at select stores, which are sent to Reflaunt to be authenticated, professionally photographed and priced. The pieces are then listed on Reflaunt’s global network, which includes more than 25 secondary marketplaces, such as Tradesy, Vestiaire Collective and Hamburg-based resale platform Rebelle.
Luxury brands are getting directly involved in the resale market to have more ownership over second-hand sales. In June, Italian fashion house Valentino announced that it would begin selling vintage items collected from customers in exchange for store credit. Gucci’s Gucci Vault concept also resurfaces vintage house pieces. Other brands have worked directly with resale platforms such as The RealReal and Vestiaire Collective.
Balenciaga says the rollout with Reflaunt is part of its broader mission to become a “fully sustainable company” and is designed to “encourage the practices of reducing, reusing and recycling”.
Reflaunt’s technology has been adopted by brands and retailers including Net-a-Porter, Ganni and Axel Arigato. Charbit was among those to invest in the service during its seed funding round, alongside Swarovski creative director Giovanna Battaglia. It raised a further $11 million (£10.2 million) in a Series A funding round in August 2022. It is part of LVMH’s accelerator programme La Maison des Startups, which looks to bring new services and innovative products to the luxury market.
This article was originally published on Vogue Business.
