The Real Real - the company that has made second hand the number one shopping destination
Photo: The Real Real
The Real Real was founded ten years ago with the mission to extend the life of luxury goods enabling more people to appreciate them while giving the original owners the opportunity to maximise their investment. It is an online luxury market place for sellers and buyers. Today The Real Real has 19 retail stores in the United States. According to the company it is the most trusted place for authentic valuation where hundres of experts helps to track and predict the value of an item.
According to the company’s own figures, 23 million items have been sold, there are 25 million shoppers and counters and 24 152 metric tons of carbon emissions have been saved. According to the founder, Julie Wainwright, when more people sell and shop luxury fashion on their marketplace, less people consume new things in the first place (watch the Bloomsberg interview). This is concluded in their 2022 Luxury Consignment report, where 40% of The Real Real shoppers are replacing fast fashion with resale and 43% shop resale because it’s more sustainable. It also states that sold-out styles attracting 50% more new buyers than standard resale items. Further, when second hand brands measures the amount of carbon saved they normally compare the items they sell to what if those items were newly produced. This method comes of-course with several assumptions and therefore it has several flaws in the final conclusion, but can be a tool to at least highlight the difference between second hand and new clothes carbon emissions. Since most of the emissions are happening in the production phase. In this case, we don’t know the method behind these figures but as a reader you should always take carbon emission calculations carefully and not compare them too easily since different methods can have been used.
The report does not say the method behind the change in behaviour figures but it seems like this is based on survey’s where users themselves have evaluated why they shop resale and that they do replace fast fashion. The question remain of course if they have actually changed their behaviour. As we know, what we value and how we view our consumption habit can differ from how it is perceived. Creating second hand market place for increased circularity is of course, as an original idea, a good thing, what is not being used in someone’s closet can end up in someone else. Less items end up in landfills and as waste, and circular choices becomes more accessible compared to fast fashion choices.
But it is not like it doesn’t come with its problem. A seller of luxury and vintage items might still buy new luxury products that might even be triggered by the idea of having a second market place if you are not happy with the item later on. We guess this is what The Real Real tries to address when measuring and evaluating change in behaviour. If their claims are true that is of course excellent. If selling on second hand can also increase percentage of people buying second hand being first hand, we can create a paradigm shift on how we consume fashion.
The Real Real has gain huge financial success ($145 million in total revenue in 2021, an 67% increase compared to 2020) and being free to make our own conclusion, we have highlighted a few things that believe has helped them:
The nich of luxury fashion makes it easy to access and target right consumers and sellers
It is an over-generation nich where luxury fashion circulates in trends and over time
It is easy to sell through the platform since you can both hand in and send in items
Experts who are evaluating products makes its more trustworthy as a buyer (even though there have been some scandals involved in this aspect)
The market platform online and offline is just as nicely curated and presented as commercial fashion, you won’t even assume it is a second hand store you are visiting
The online experience and presentation of products are compatible with our online markets making it easy to get an idea of the item being sold, increasing the likeliness for people to make a purchase
Algorithm and huge amount of data helps the company to improve consumers and seller experiences, for example if a certain item is more searched for or are trending The Real Real can help to find the right sellers who might gain higher profits of their sell.
Being a big player on the e-commerce fashion scene always comes with its challenges but we have to say The Real Real have made a great deal in reaching those who might never before set their foot in a second hand store, and that per see is a least a positive contribution to the change needed.
Photo: The Real Real