Make way for trendy second-hand fashion

Pre owned fashion

The online second-hand fashion marketplaces have seen a boom in recent times. For those who long to own a little black Mango dress, a Dolci & Gabana handbag or a Prada shoe, these platforms are the best bet as they offer such products at pocket-friendly prices. And those who want to keep updating their closet with the latest fashion trends, can also sell their old items on these platforms online.

“Not everyone can own these high-end products, but they aspire to get one. However, there are others who own such things but due to some reasons cannot wear them. Such kind of platforms help people bridge this gap by selling what you don’t need and buying what you always wanted,” says Abhilash Narahari, who co-founded Elanic.com with Aditi Rohan and Palkush Chawla.

Launched in October 2015, Elanic also has a mobile app and claims to have 1 lakh users with more than 40,000 products on its list. Their target customers range from the age of 20 to 35 years. “Buyers are comparatively younger than the sellers, mostly between the age group of 20-28 year,” says Narahari.

There are other websites like Luxurystation.com, Rekinza.com and Zapyle.com that help people felicitate the buying and selling of high end brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Miu Miu, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Mango, Valentino, Celine, Marc Jacobs, Vero Moda, Zara and many more.

Explaining the process, Kapila Gupta, founder of Luxurystation.com that deals with high-end accessories, says, “Once someone shows interest in selling, we ask them to send images. We then call for the products and evaluate their condition and authenticity and make an offer if we want to buy it. People can sell directly to us and get paid immediately, or they can simply consign with us and put it on the website at their own price. If it gets sold, we pay the seller and take our commission”.

Selling is lucid, but how open are people when it comes to buying second-hand products? Also, is the product’s worth not a matter of concern for the customers?

Stuti Bhageria, co-founder of Rekinza.com, says, “People are very keen on selling things but when it comes to buying, quality, hygiene and price are their biggest concerns. But to our surprise, we got positive response which broke our notion of people being skeptical towards pre-owned clothing. But we try and ensure the best of products to our customers. The clothes sent to us are steam-cleaned, ensuring hygiene. We validate every product that comes to our inventory and only then is it put up on the website.”
“And if sometimes we get items which are not good enough to sell, we have an option to return it to the seller or donate them to the poor”, she adds.

According to Gupta, this concept will do “extremely well” in the future as it allows cutting down costs, more particularly for customers who do not have access to these brands or this pricing.

But why are such venture women-centric? Narahari says, “Women are more active towards fashion compared to others. Therefore, the focus is mostly on them.”

However, both Narahari and Bhageria agree that mens fashion is speeding up and share that they are planning to launch a similar platform for men and children soon.