Back in 2018, a kid asked his mum why his sister was getting £400 trainers for Christmas, when he knew that the budget for Christmas gifts was £100 per child. The answer, they were 2nd hand from a marketplace called Vestiaire Collective. That’s where the idea for a business came from and that kid is now 23 year old Ben Gallagher who, along with his brother Joe, founded Luxe Collective with turnover today in the region of £7.5m.
Make no mistake, Luxe Collective was based on the idea of a second hand marketplace for luxury goods and it took a while to get off the ground. With £1000 left over from a car loan plus £200 in savings, the brothers started to buy from eBay and depop, clean the goods up, and resell them. But it was TikTok that really propelled their business forward and today they have 1.4 million followers on the entertainment site.
As they scaled, they realised that they could not only do their own luxury preloved marketplace, but they could do it bigger and better than anything that had come before. Firstly, rather than rely on sellers to list and ship items they took control. Think webuyanycar.com but for clothes… rather than have to photograph, list, sell, pack and ship your unwanted luxury goods, why not turn them into cash today and let Luxe Collective do the job of selling? It’s a concierge service for luxury goods for those that want to turn unwanted fashion into cold hard cash quickly and effortlessly.
Back to TikTok…. you might be forgiven for thinking that this would be Luxe Collective’s opportunity to flog their goods but you’d be mistaken. They simply talk about the world of fashion and what’s going on from designer gossip and faux pas to the latest must have drops. This is where TikTok excels and as their followers grew and so did their sales on the marketplace.
Fast forward to this week, and Luxe Collective have opened their first pop up shop in London and as you’d expect, they’re posting on TikTok to keep their followers in the loop on what’s happening and the queue is impressive to say the least!
Situated in the Royal Exchange right next door to Louis Vuitton and opposite Hermès. Claim to fame, Luxe Collective even have products in their pop up shop that you can not get next door in Louis Vuitton!!
Today, Luxe Collective no longer buy and sell clothing, they specialise in foot wear, bags and accessories. Tell them what you have to sell with a couple of snaps, they’ll give you a quote if they want to buy your it and if you’re happy, they’ll send you a shipping label. Pop it in the post for free, and within 24 hours of receiving your item they’ll pay you. It’s that simple.
This isn’t a marketplace for everyone, if you want absolutely top top dollar for your items, you might be better off selling yourself. But the downside of this is that not only will you not actually get the price you sell for (marketplace fees, packing and shipping costs, potential returns and refunds and selling again, and worst case items lost or damaged), but you’ll also have to wait for a buyer to come along. Where Luxe Collective wins is that you can turn your luxury goods into cash with no waiting and no hassle and for a lot of people that really matters.
The Luxe Collective pop up is open at 5 Royal Exchange, London, EC3V 3LL, (10am-6pm Monday- Saturday) until the 9th of August, so if you want to visit get down there there in your lunch break or plan a trip this coming weekend if you don’t work in London.
