The Best Way To Sell Your Pre-Loved Designer Pieces Online, According To An Expert - The Gloss Magazine

The Best Way To Sell Your Pre-Loved Designer Pieces Online, According To An Expert

Be bang on-trend by buying pre-loved and a little new. Buying AND selling with a person you trust is circular, sustainable and smart. Catwalkgee’s Anne Marie Gee shares tricks and tips with Aislinn Coffey …

Former finance director for a German multinational, London-based Anne Marie Gee started a style blog after taking a career break when she had her two children. Then almost 40, she felt fashion advice was directed in the main at those in their 20s and 30s and she wasn’t seeing the sort of clothes, bags and jewellery she wanted anywhere. “Like many women, I spent years madly buying lots of clothes but still had nothing to wear. Also, while I love designer fashion and accessories, I do not always have the budget to buy them new, so I was drawn to pre-loved as a way of getting those longed-for pieces.” Her blog developed into a full site and online store based around her own style and wardrobe and www.catwalkgee.com and pre-loved resale section (called Reloved Again) is now firmly established as a serious player in the fashion world.

Gee also offers styling advice and personal shopping appointments (which include the best bricks-and-mortar stores for pre-loved fashion). The online store carries a combination of pre-loved and new clothes, with many heavily discounted designer finds. Everything Gee sells, she stands over and would wear herself. She has a sophisticated, current look – on one section of the site you can shop her own look. With the resale and pre-loved market quite flooded now, her expert edit results in a fresh, current and accessible collection from which to buy.

So how does she approach her buying and resale business? “I like to think I represent a cohort of women around my age who want to look current, have beautiful things, but not spend a fortune. How many women do you see with exactly the same trainers these days? Thanks to Instagram ads, we see the same stuff over and over and it is driving purchases down a very narrow funnel – Gucci loafers, Golden Goose trainers! I don’t want to be a follower, I want to find something different, or better. I suggest alternatives to those items we are seeing all the time.”

Designer pre-loved stock @relovedagain

“First, I think about the pieces I want to wear that reflect current trends – easy-to-wear trends. Then I find the same items at a good price, or better. For instance, if I love how a pair of Stella McCartney trousers looks, I find the same trousers pre-loved, or I find a better pair with the same shape. If I want a blazer, I ask is the wool good quality? Is it lined? Is this a designer or brand well-known for its blazers? No? Then why am I looking at it? I research a brand that is. Always look for the best-in-class brand or designer for a particular item.

“I mix it up – new and pre-loved. I buy leggings new for instance, but I buy them when they are discounted and I wear them to death. After a certain age, you should not do head-to-toe pre-loved. It can look shabby. I have almost eliminated vintage clothes from my wardrobe. I insist that the pre-loved items I buy or advise other women to buy, look new. Another rule is no dupes! At my age, I want the real thing. You won’t be fulfilled by an approximation. Hold out, be patient.

“At at our age we don’t get the same high from shopping as we did when we were younger but we might have a Bucket List which might include Boobs, Botox, Balenciaga Bag. By shopping cleverly, we can get the bag. Enjoy the research, take your time. Budgetwise, always have a ceiling. Not necessarily because you can’t afford it but you have to keep a sense of proportion, keep it real. And what I call a “Bonkers Beautiful” item is also good, something mad-looking to shake things up!”

JOURNEY OF A SHOE

Cashing in on my clearout …

Anne Marie suggests a clearout before repopulating your wardrobe (many of her clients also sell via Reloved Again). So I filled out Reloved Again’s online form giving a precise-as-possible description of my unworn Christian Louboutin Elyette pony-hair heels I wanted to sell. Once I got the go-ahead from Anne Marie at Reloved Again, I packed them up in the original box and posted them. Reloved Again takes 40 per cent on items under £500stg and 30 per cent on items over £500stg. For higher value items such as handbags or jewellery, Anne Marie will give you a steer on price via a video call (email sellwithus@relovedagain.com to arrange). My shoes were listed on the website 48 hours later (following a written ‘accepted’ valuation of £275stg). Anne Marie’s top tip? Don’t wait too long before selling items you no longer wear. The resale value of items goes down as trends move on.

LOVETHEGLOSS.IE?

Sign up to our MAILING LIST now for a roundup of the latest fashion, beauty, interiors and entertaining news from THE GLOSS MAGAZINE’s daily dispatches.

Choose Your Categories

Newsletter

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This