Vestiaire Collective has gotten a fresh influx of cash.
The French-based re-commerce platform has announced the completion of a $64 million funding round, with new investors including Koreyla Capital, Vaultier7 and Cuir Invest.
The new capital will allow Vestiaire to boost its international business, the company said, with Korelya, backed by Korean tech conglomerate Naver, to help it explore expansion in Korea as well as Japan.
“We are extremely enthusiastic to support Vestiaire Collective and its founders in its expansion. There are tremendous opportunities for growth in Asia, and we look forward to helping the company accelerate its expansion in this part of the globe,” Paul Degueuse, general partner of Korelya Capital, stated.
Vestiaire has plans to roll out its direct shipping model, which launched in Europe in September 2019, in the U.S. and Asia by the end of the year. The company says more than half of its European orders are currently fulfilled through the service, which sees product sent to consumers directly from sellers, rather than traveling through Vestiaire’s control and authentication center.
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According to a 2019 report from Vestiaire Collective and Boston Consulting Group, the resale luxury market was forecast to grow to $36 billion in 2021, from $25 billion in 2018, at which point it would account for 9% of the total luxury market. Notably, this figure does not account for the effects of the coronavirus crisis. Overall, the coronavirus has zapped fashion spend, with fellow resale player The RealReal choosing to layoff 10% of staff and furlough an additional 15% earlier this month.
As the resale market enjoyed rapid expansion in recent years, several traditional retailers have found consignment partners. Macy’s and JCPenney both announced partnerships with ThredUp in August 2019, while Neiman Marcus took a minority stake in online consignment boutique Fashionphile in April 2019. Meanwhile Vestiaire has found a department store partner in Selfridges. In October 2019, the resale platform opened its first permanent boutique as a shop-in-shop in Selfridges’ London flagship.
