“We curate our collection to guarantee quality and authenticity,” proclaims the banner across the website of Vestiaire Collective, a France-based, e-commerce business which describes itself as a “resale community dedicated to luxury fashion,” although fashion here stretches to Danish chairs and Hermès ashtrays.
In other words – and there are many other words for such an uncomfortable concept – the items sold on Vestiaire Collective come in as secondhand, or pre-owned/loved/cherished, or unwanted presents perhaps, or maybe even nearly new.
When you open your wardrobe to Vestiaire’s community of over one million fashion lovers (this is not a place for those who prefer net curtains) the curation process works thus: Vestiaire first chooses the pieces online (because “we know what our community are looking for”); any items sold must be sent via Vestiaire (“to confirm authenticity and quality”) and on to the buyer; and then you get paid. It’s a broking role pitched somewhere between the level of ebay and old-fashioned auction houses, between yard sale and collector’s boutique.
Condé Nast also happens to see itself as a curator, in its own way, just as much as Vestiaire. Jonathan Newhouse, Condé Nast chairman and chief executive, said of the deal: “Vestiaire Collective will appeal to our style-conscious print and digital audiences around the world. As our media brands curate the latest fashion and accessories for the consumer, Vestiaire acts as a trusted intermediary between buyers and sellers of pre-owned items.”
So this is a deal premised on full life cycle curation of fashion, from latest to vintage, even if fashions change.
Elsewhere in the curated space, and also involving a strategic media investor, US-based Chairish raised $3.2 seed funding in July with the participation of O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, the seed stage corporate venturing arm of US-based media company O’Reilly Media.
Chairish is an online marketplace for the resale of furniture and décor, aiming to “connect design lovers with each other.” Started in 2011 by a husband and wife team who were moving home and needed to sell off their stuff which no longer fitted, Chairish promotes its curatorial benefits by explaining: “We curate exceptional, often unique decor – of all types, all styles, from “like” new, to items with great bones that just need a bit of love. With Chairish, you get access to wonderful pieces you couldn’t find anywhere else and it comes straight from the owner who loved it, with the fair prices you expect.”
Venture capital firm Azure Capital Partners invested alongside O’Reilly in Chairish, and its founding general partner Mike Kwatinetz is bullish on curated commerce, commenting at the time of the deal: “Azure believes curated commerce is the wave of the future and what could be better for us than to back an all-star team delivering this innovation and value to the $87 billion furniture market.”
And there are more curated, or semi-curated ecommerce deals. Just before the Condé Nast / Vestiaire Collective deal there was Videdressing.com, a similar “rendezvous” community for reselling fashion items in a controlled and structured setting, which raised approximately $1.7m from the Samwer brothers’ Global Founders Capital fund.
Most recently on 5 September, a UK-based fashion accessories website Boticca.com secured $4m series A financing from venture capital firm firm MMC Ventures and several high net worth individuals, including Turkish entrepreneur Sina Afra, former European director of M&A for eBay. Boticca.com sees itself as a curated marketplace, differentiated from typical e-commerce companies by higher standards of product selection, exciting web design and editorial content which tells the stories of its designers and pieces, making Boticca.com akin to a “highly curated fashion retail store”.
Avid Larizadeh, co-founder and chief operating officer of Boticca.com, said following the series A financing: “We’re so proud that Boticca has become the world’s luxury bazaar of fashion accessories – the go-to site for so many to shop, explore and meet designers from all cultures. We bring our customers on a journey across continents without leaving home, recapturing the lost commerce experience of the ancient Silk Road which connected adventurers with unfamiliar cultures through travel and trade.”
All enough to keep any news curator busy.