Luxury as a currency: how the luxury resale market has evolved as an investment vehicle

Ebay's Luxury Exchange NYC. Image: Ebay Despite currently bleak economic prospects, the resale market is only on the rise, with a slew of recent reports finding that consumers are showing a tendency towards secondhand and pre-loved purchases in light of rising costs and tightened budgets. A similar attitude was adopted by that of The Business of Fashion (BoF), which partnered with resale marketplace Ebay, on a new analytical report ‘The Rise of Resale: Luxury as Currency’. Through the report’s data, the duo found that shoppers were increasingly viewing luxury accessories as potential investments, with 17 percent of the report’s respondents stating that they had purchased items, like high-end handbags and watches, with the intention of reselling them. Luxury products as an asset class This tendency to no longer view luxury items as one-off discretionary purchases could be what is driving resale activity, the report stated, with over half of luxury shoppers in the US said to be monitoring the value of their high end purchases, 30 percent of which were found to be doing so as often as once a year. Additionally, over half of US luxury shoppers believe some of their luxury accessories could appreciate in value. Around 60 percent of those respondents that are active on resale sites said they had resold these products for more than they purchased them for. The report’s findings also concluded that shoppers could be viewing luxury items as a “safer store of value than other investments like stocks”, with only six percent worried their accessories could decrease in value. In a press release for the report, Rahul Malik, managing director of North America at BoF, said: “The luxury resale market has had a transformative trajectory within the larger fashion industry. “As second-hand shopping for luxury items becomes increasingly attractive to shoppers, it is no surprise that businesses from high street brands to luxury fashion houses have been exploring how they can be a part of this space — especially given its role in enabling circularity.” Ebay's Luxury Exchange NYC. Image: Ebay Ebay opens luxury exchange store in NYC To put the report into practice, Ebay has opened a New York-based ‘Luxury Exchange’, which allows shoppers to exchange jewellery, handbags and watches from various luxury brands. On entry, customers can have their luxury items appraised and assigned a value with which they can shop the store’s inventory and make an exchange on an item within their ‘currency’. In a release, Tirath Kamdar, GM of luxury at Ebay, “It’s never been easier for luxury enthusiasts to refine their collections in a trust environment, and we wanted to create an IRL experience that reflects what’s happening on Ebay every day. “The Luxury Exchange gives shoppers an opportunity to appraise and sell their valuable goods, and add something new to their personal collections – just in time for the holiday season.” Both the store and the resale report come on the back of Ebay’s expansion of its Authenticity Guarantee, which now also covers jewellery. Initially launched in 2020, the programme aims to encourage shoppers to buy and sell their collections, with authenticity proven to be the defining factor in this specific decision-making process, as found by BoF and Ebay. According to the duo’s report, 25 percent of luxury shoppers stated they may have inadvertently purchased a counterfeit luxury item in the past, with it further suggesting that possessing authentication information could make an estimated one-third of shoppers more likely to resell their luxury goods online.
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Youtube pilots new shopping feature for Shorts

Image: Pexels Youtube is expanding its shopping features in an effort to boost revenue as it faces a slow down in digital advertising. The Alphabet-owned company will begin allowing users to shop products directly from Shorts, which is Youtube’s short-form video platform, similar to TikTok. The feature is currently being tested with creators in the US who will be able to tag products from their own stores. A Google spokesperson told Reuters: “Viewers in the US, India, Brazil, Canada, and Australia can see the tags and interact with them and we'll continue to bring tagging to more creators and geographies.” In addition to the new Shorts shopping feature, Youtube is also experimenting with a feature allowing influencers to earn commissions from products they sell through links in their videos.
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Iso.Poetism wins the Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize 2022

Image: Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize 2022; Iso.Poetism by Tobias Birk Nielsen Danish menswear label Iso.Poetism by Tobias Birk Nielsen has won another accolade, adding the Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize 2022 to the Zalando Sustainability Award it picked up during Copenhagen Fashion Week earlier this year. The Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize is the Nordic region’s most prestigious and influential design award to support emerging talent, and this year saw Iso.Poetism by Tobias Birk Nielsen scoop the honour ahead of finalists Birrot, Nicklas Skovgaard and Sophia Khaled. The award, formerly known as the Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize, has been renamed to mark the prize’s independence, explains organisers, while celebrating the entrepreneurship and innovation of the department store Magasin du Nord’s 19th-century founders, Theodor Wessel and Emil Vett. 2022 also marks the tenth anniversary of the award and included a new grand prize of 500,000 Danish Krone awarded to Iso.Poetism. In addition, each of the finalists has been rewarded 10,000 Danish Krone for “their mutual effort and participation” alongside mentoring from a network of industry experts, advising on sales, production, PR, and business development. All the finalists presented their collections and business concepts to an international jury of industry experts and were praised for their design talent, sustainable vision, innovation, creativity and business entrepreneurship. On winning the award, Iso.Poetism, said in a statement: “Being a Danish brand, winning the biggest and most prestigious fashion prize in the Scandinavian region really validates the purpose and vision of the brand, not to mention the hard work that the whole team puts into the brand every day. “We are confident that we are heading in the right direction. We would like to thank our loyal partners, customers, and everybody who has supported us on our journey along the way. As a small brand and company, the award and earnings mean a lot to our continued growth and allows us to spread our brand, vision and aesthetics further.” Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize renamed Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize Iso.Poetism added: “Winning this award means we have the opportunity to get started on new and exciting projects sooner than anticipated and continue doing what we love most. This award has given us more momentum to keep growing the business and allow us to create artefacts people can connect to. We are optimistic for the future and can’t wait for what’s to come!” The Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize also announced a significant expansion to its award, which is designed to be Scandinavian’s answer to the LVMH Prize, including the launch of a strategic partnership with Copenhagen Fashion Week via the recently established talent support scheme, CPHFW NewTalent. The collaboration will support, promote and nurture Nordic design talent for domestic and international growth and impact, and will see the Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize winner enrolled into the CPHFW NewTalent scheme and added to the official show schedule for three consecutive seasons. This means that as the winner, Iso.Poetism will be offered the opening show slot for the autumn/winter 2023 season and a spot in the CPHFW NewTalent spring/summer showroom, alongside mentoring, communications, and inclusion in all CPHFW official activities and opportunities. Crown Princess Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, which supports the prize, said: “Recognising the integral role of young designers in contributing to the necessary transformation of the fashion industry to a sustainable one is critical. "The Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize is about just that; recognising upcoming Danish designers who are showing the way – taking their role seriously by designing responsibly and sustainably.” Previous winners of the Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize have included Cecilie Bahnsen and A. Roege Hove.
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In the run-up to Christmas, cautious consumers are keeping footfall below expectations

Image: London's Regent Street via Pexels As the UK awaits the Government’s Autumn Budget update on Thursday, the expected tax rises and spending cuts are keeping shoppers at bay. New data released by retail experts Springboard, show footfall rose by just 1.3 percent across UK retail destinations last week, despite the run-up to Christmas expected to improve trading conditions. Footfall rose by 2.1 percent in high streets and by 0.9 percent in shopping centres whilst remaining flat from the week before in retail parks. The rise in footfall in high streets and shopping centres occurred across the majority of UK geographies, with just Wales recording a decline, of -2.6 percent in high streets and -14.6 percent in shopping centres, and a drop in high street footfall of -10.7 percent in Northern Ireland. Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard, says: “Following a large decline in footfall in the week before last, last week footfall in UK retail destinations rose only marginally. Under normal trading conditions we would expect footfall to bounce back in the week following a decline however, the modest uplift last week is a clear indicator of the increasing cautiousness of consumers in terms of making trips and spending.” “The results also indicate the change in consumer behaviour that is starting to become evident as a consequence of hybrid working, with the weekend increasing in significance for shopper activity. Footfall over the working week rose last week, however, the increase only partially made up for the drop in activity in the previous week. The largest rise over the Monday to Friday period last week occurred on Wednesday, reflecting our insights that identifies Wednesday as the most popular day for office working and Monday and Friday the least popular. Over the weekend, the double digit rise in footfall was more than twice the magnitude of the decline in the week before last, suggesting that consumers delayed trips to destinations until the weekend which prior to hybrid working may have been taken during the working week.”
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Joules to appoint administrators, trading suspended on AIM

Image: Joules The board of Joules has decided to appoint Will Wright, Ryan Grant and Chris Pole of Interpath Advisory Limited as administrators to the company and Joules Limited after discussions to raise funds collapsed. Joules has 1,600 employees and 130 UK stores. Additionally, the company will appoint Will Wright and Ryan Grant as administrators to The Garden Trading Company Limited and Joules Developments Limited. In light of the above, the board also announces that it has requested a suspension of trading in the company's ordinary shares on AIM with effect from 07.30 a.m. today. Joules on brink of administration The company said in a statement that the Joules board is taking this action to protect the interests of its creditors. On November 7, 2022, Joules announced it was in advanced discussions with a number of strategic investors to provide a cornerstone investment in an equity raise process. The company also said that it was in discussions regarding a bridge financing proposal. However these discussions with various parties have now been terminated. Earlier this year, high street giant Next was gearing up to invest 15 million pounds into Joules. But that deal was scrapped after Joules warned it expected to deliver a full year loss before tax and adjusted items “significantly below current market expectations”. In May, Joules issued a profit warning, with the company citing that the cost-of-living crisis was impacting its sales across its full-price range and gardening products. The news Monday comes after British retailer Made.com collapsed into administration last week.
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Maryland governor-elect Wes Moore steps down from Under Armour board

Image: Under Armour Wes Moore has stepped down from Under Armour, Inc. board of directors effective immediately due to his election as governor of the state of Maryland. "On behalf of the entire team, I'd like to congratulate Wes, and thank him for his dynamic leadership as well as the significant contributions he made as a member of Under Armour's board of directors," said Kevin Plank, the company’s executive chair and brand chief in a release. "It has been a pleasure serving on Under Armour's board and sharing my passion for purpose and community with the brand," added Wes Moore. Moore, the former CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, joined the board in October 2020 and served as a member of the corporate governance and sustainability committee.
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