In just a couple of years, Julie Wainright has amassed a team of luxury experts and skilled gemologists in every major city who help sell second hand designer clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelry and fine art to the fashion obsessed in search of good deals. With a revenue of $60 million dollars just this year alone, founder and CEO Wainright- who has a vast career in technology and brand management- launched The RealReal in 2011, where carefully selected consignment items are sold anonymously to savvy shoppers who score items from the likes of Missoni, Phillip Lim, and Cartier for as much as 90 percent off. This online women’s and men’s luxury retail store uses a similar model as Gilt and other flash-sites, and offers new 72-hour sales that are launched daily.
With over a million members and about 9,000 consignors, The RealReal has the best fashion foot soldiers in the field vetting the choicest people in high markets who bring in more than $5 million dollars worth of product a year, resale value. San Francisco native and style maven Sahi Levesque came on board at the beginning, giving up her well-known SF boutique in order to become VP of Merchandising, where she could reach a much more global clientele- think millions daily. Everything is received in warehouses in both San Francisco and New York where the first priority is to authenticate each item, followed by photographing them, putting them in stock and then it’s pick, pack and ship. The team will even come to your home and help edit what you’d like to sell and ship it for free. Membership perks include 24 hour advanced access to all sales, special invitations to monthly promotions and credits for referring friends and consignors. With 55 percent of its shoppers coming through on their mobile devices, its almost too easy to get the real deal wherever you happen to be. www.therealreal.com
great article!