Vestiaire Collective starts localised service in South Korea

French secondhand fashion retailer Verstiaire Collective is now offering secondhand fashion items to customers in South Korea via a new, fully localised service, which is the fourth of its kind, following successful launches in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

This move allows South Korean consumers to buy from the existing global catalog including over 10,000 luxury and designer brands but also to share their own fashion taste with a global audience by selling their luxury fashion goods to the community.

To meet demand and provide efficient local service, Vestiaire Collective not only opened a local branch in Seoul but also its fifth authentication center, following Tourcoing in France, New York, Hong Kong and London. With a volume of 15 billion euros (around 12.6 billion pounds), the South Korean market is one of the ten largest for personal luxury goods.

“South Korea is a very dynamic country leading global trends in tech, fashion and sustainability. Launching in South Korea not only enables us to meet the huge demand in the resale market, but also broadens the supply available to South Korean customers with our highly desirable international catalog. It also strengthens our commitment to being a force for good in the global fashion ecosystem, by offering affordable and sustainable alternatives to fast fashion. We expect this positive influence and good energy to highly appeal to the South Korean community, so that we can jointly contribute to building a better future,” comments Fanny Moizant, co-founder and president of Vestiaire Collective, in a press release.

The fully localised service allows customers in South Korea to buy and sell secondhand fashion items consistently in Korean. They can make their payment in the local currency, the South Korean won, while registration has been simplified through synchronisation with Naver and Kakao. Used items can be dropped off at local stores and pickup is handled by a local shipping provider. The fashion retailer expects South Korean members to take well to the “Make an Offer” function, which allows them to submit price offers for items and negotiate with sellers.

“Vestiaire Collective is the largest luxury fashion resale platform with global operations. With its rapid growth and innovative multi-channel market, South Korea has such a great potential. We are very excited to enter this market today, expanding our seamless localised services and offering South Korean customers access to a huge global community of potential buyers and sellers. We expect this strategic launch to highly benefit to other markets within the Asia-Pacific region,” adds Vestiaire Collective CEO Max Bittner.