From ThredUp to Stitch Fix, who’s who in secondhand and rental?

Who leads secondhand and rental market? ThredUp, TheRealReal or Stitch Fix were once startups boosted by professionals with no background in the fashion industry that saw potential where the conventional model didn’t dare looking. Nowadays, they are million-dollar business aiming to become the next go-to brand and gain global scale.

ThredUp, looking for a new life for a t-shirt

The company founded in 2009 by the American businessman James Reinhart, current CEO, was born because its founder no longer knew what to do with the t-shirts he didn’t use. The marketplace, which is dedicated to the resale of secondhand fashion items, has an offer of more than 40,000 new pieces per day. ThredUp has redistributed to date more than 65 million garments worldwide.

The American company is based in San Francisco and has raised more than 300 million dollars in funding rounds, the most recent one worth 175 million dollars. In this last operation, the company entered Park West Asset Managment and Irving Investors in the capital, among others.

TheRealReal, pioneer of recycled luxury

The secondhand luxury goods marketplace was founded in 2011 by Julie Wainwright, current CEO of the company. TheRealReal, which went public last June, is based in San Francisco and closed its first half, ended June 30, with a 52% increase in its revenue compared to the same period last year.

The company, which expects to reach sales of 1 billion dollars at the end of 2019, has a total of more than one thousand employees and has raised more than 280 million dollars through financing rounds.

Vestiaire Collective, to the conquer of the Asian market

The online luxury resale company has an offer of more than 600,000 products, such as handbags, shoes and jewelry, among others. Founded in 2009, it has presence in more than 50 countries around the world and has more than 7 million users. The company has offices in Paris, London, New York, Milan and Hong Kong.

Since last January, Vestiare Collective has Maximilian Bittner as the new CEO. The executive, who comes from Lazada, has the mission of expanding the project in Asia. The company, which has raised more than 170 million dollars though financing rounds, has among its investors Conde Nast and Eurazeo, among others. 

Poshmark, creating a community for secondhand luxury

The clothing resale marketplace, that is planning to list in the stock market at the end of this year, was founded in 2011. The platform allows its users to buy and sell products in the growing secondhand market.

In its last financing round, the company raised more than 87 million dollars and it has managed to capture approximately 153 million dollars, giving capital to Mayfield Fund and GGV Capital, among others.

Rent the Runaway, from Harvard to one billion

One of the pioneers of the rental and subscription model was founded in 2009 by Harvard students Jenny Fleiss and Jennifer Hayman, current CEO. The company has also taken the offline leap with stores in New York, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

The company, valued at one billion dollars, offers mainly two services: rent a single piece for a fixed price and a monthly payment subscription service in which users receive four pieces of clothing per month for a fixed price that includes delivery, pickup and laundry.

Stitch Fix, stitching subscriptions

It is one of the benchmarks of subscription sales. The company sends a box with five garments of the sizes and personal style of the users, who have the option of keeping the number of garments they want or returning them. Founded in 2011 by Erin Morrinson and Katrina Lake, a former Harvard student and current CEO, the company went public in 2017 and is valued at 2 billion dollars.

At the end of its fiscal year in 2018, the company generated a net profit of more than 33.2 million dollars and had a total of more than 5,800 employees.