Mytheresa links with Vestiaire Collective for major resale launch

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 9, 2021

Luxury e-tailer Mytheresa unveiled a partnership with upscale resale specialist Vestiaire Collective on Wednesday, the latter operating a resale service for the webstore’s customers. 

It said that this “partnership of industry leaders aims to drive the fashion industry’s shift towards more sustainable practices”.

It’s targeting Mytheresa’s “top clients” who will be invited to participate in the programme. They can do this via a dedicated web interface through which they can upload their information and be given a price quote for their pre-loved item. 

The item is dispatched directly to Vestiaire Collective for quality and authentication checks, after which the customers will receive immediate payment as Mytheresa store credit, rather than having to wait for the item to be resold as is usual with Vestiaire Collective. 

There’s also a dedicated Mytheresa x Vestiaire Collective team to support the customers throughout this process.

The pre-owned items won’t be resold on Mytheresa itself but will be sold through the Vestiaire Collective webstore and app.

At this launch stage, there are also limits on what’s available for resale with handbags from a set list of around 20 luxury designer brands making the grade for customers in Europe only. 

However, the programme should expand relatively fast. The two companies said they’re “committed to roll out the service to more Mytheresa customers as well as for all product categories, including ready-to-wear and a wider list of luxury brands, before the end of 2021”. 

It’s not the first resale move for a luxury e-tailer with Farfetch, for instance, having earlier added handbag resale. But Mytheresa said the initiative “marks the first time that a multi-brand luxury platform embraces designer resale in a comprehensive way to reinforce the shift to circularity as part of the fashion ecosystem”.

Its CEO Michael Kliger said: “We are confident that with this unique service we are providing a real benefit to our customers giving their beautiful designer pieces a second life. It further allows us to help drive change in the fashion industry by incorporating circularity into our business model. We see a huge potential for the programme and can’t wait to extend it to more customers, categories and markets in the next months.”

And president and co-founder of Vestiaire Collective Fanny Moizant added: “We're going to keep amplifying the voice of resale as a crucial part of achieving a more sustainable fashion system. And we'll continue partnering and fighting side-by-side with brands and retailers, encouraging their customers to embrace circular fashion by reselling pieces they no longer wear.”