The 13 Best Finds on Vestiaire Collective, the Cool French Girl’s Resale Site
Imagine a shopping wonderland where you can browse the wardrobes of chic European women — the kind who look cool even while popping out to a grocery store and all have names like Jacqueline or Cecile. There are no fusty pumps or dated black “slacks” to sort through, only a curated selection of current-season merchandise from the likes of Céline and Chanel, a parade of Isabel Marant’s greatest hits, and tons of cherry-picked items from high-street heroes such as Zara. There is no feeling of searching for a needle in a haystack, the crouton in your kale salad, or any other bad analogy meant to express the frustration of finding a gem in a sea of meh.
Such is the genius of Paris-based resale site Vestiaire Collective, which launches in the U.S. today. The selling process is closely monitored: Members who want to unload nearly new merchandise must upload photos for approval by Vestiaire’s staff. (Items that make the cut will then be posted.) Following a sale, the item gets shipped for inspection and verified by experts — no fakes here — before it finally reaches the buyer. While the company, founded in 2009, certainly has its work cut out for it — competitors include the RealReal, Shop Hers, Poshmark, and so many more — we’re betting it’ll make it onto your bookmarks bar (and into your seasonal closet-cleaning routine) sometime very soon. Even Condé Nast is on board: The company’s investment arm ponied up a $20 million investment in 2013.
To kick things off, Vestiaire is staging a charity auction called StyleCycle, populated with goods from basically every fashionable woman worth dedicating a Pinterest board to. Caroline de Maigret is parting ways with a Chanel graffiti canvas tote, Emmanuelle Alt is letting go of her Christopher Kane bag, and many more women — including Cara Delevingne, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, and Stella Tennant — are also selling their pre-loved goods, with proceeds going to an organization of their choice.
While you can bid on your favorite celebs’ items, there’s also a ton of other great merchandise on the site worth checking out. We combed through and rounded up the best scores you can buy right this minute.
