Future of Fashion Vol. 001: The Recommerce Renaissance

part 1 of 6 & an interview with Claire Illmer of Future Reference

Welcome to a special Friday edition of Brandiose. This is the start of our Future of Fashion Series, which will be a six part series rolling out sporadically over the next couple of months on what’s happening in the world of fashion — from the lens of recommerce, AI, tech, trends, influencers, and so much more…

Plus! Every issue will feature a juicy interview from someone who is focusing on a specific area within that space. My goal is to bring you insider insights from those who are in the trenches and expose you to new thinking.

Why the Future of Fashion?

• I believe that what Fashion does, the greater Brand world follows, so there’s much to be learned from this industry

• I am naturally fashion obsessed, so this is a space I tend to follow closely.

• This space is on fire with innovation right now and there’s simply so much to talk about!!

• I want this newsletter to be a true hub of new information for all subscribers. Hopefully you’ll be exposed to things outside of your typical sphere, and the interviews are something you can’t get anywhere else

As always, if you have thoughts or feedback, please reply to this note or leave a comment.

📍OVERVIEW

Vintage aka recommerce vibes

What is recommerce? Recommerce is the practice of reselling a previously owned item in any channel. The item may be like-new, slightly used, or “heavily loved.” You may also hear it referred to as resale or secondhand, but I think recommerce captures it best.

The resale landscape is massive. While there are tons of startups coming into the space (you’ll hear from the founder of one below!), some of the key players include eBay, Poshmark, ThredUp, TheRealReal, Depop, and Vestiaire Collective.

source: Alpaca VC

While there are many different types of recommerce platforms, the two major categories are:

• peer-to-peer: the marketplace connects buyers and sellers and takes a % of the transaction fee, keeping costs low (Poshmark, eBay, Depop)

• managed marketplaces: the retailer manages, authenticates, and resells the inventory, allowing for quality control (TheRealReal, Vestiaire Collective)

Branded Recommerce

Another key market for recommerce is B2B2C, enabled by software solutions like Archive, Supercircle, Treet, Trove, and others helping brands like Ulla Johnson, New Balance, Cotopaxi, Patagonia, and Oscar de La Renta set up recommerce on their native DTC sites.

According to Trove, it would cost a brand $50 million to set up its own resale program, so this is a much more affordable way for brands to compete in the space. For brands, this new sales channel creates an additional revenue opportunity on DTC, and, perhaps more importantly, increases customer satisfaction and ideally retention.

📈 THE DATA

eBay just put out a great 2024 Recommerce Report just in time for this series to begin. According to the report:

• Nearly 50% of consumers agree: “Shopping pre-loved is 'in' for 2024.”

• 43% of consumers believe shopping pre-loved makes them feel like a better person

• 62% of Millennials and 66% of Gen Zs agree that purchasing pre-loved has grown in personal importance.

• 49% of consumers reported buying pre-loved goods because the same items are unavailable in new condition

• 58% of Gen Zs and 51% of Millennials say generating extra cash is a primary motivator for selling pre-loved goods.

🍿 IN THE NEWS

• Isabel Marant is hosting a popup through Vestaire Collective where she is handpicking all the inventory

• RealReal competitor Fashionphile uses data to highly curate & merchandise stores based on zip code

• Elle reports that the best way to shop ecommerce right now is Substack, which makes sense given the community aspect to the platform

🌶️ HOT TAKE

While fast fashion spending is at an all-time high (and growing) amongst brands like Shein, Temu, Zara, H&M, and Amazon — there is a cohort of consumers who prioritizes unique finds and a highly curated wardrobe, with pieces that are built to last. Many consumers will have a mix of “high/low” brands in their arsenal.

I believe it comes down to knowing your audience, and building a brand (and brand behavior) with that specific audience in mind. To me, the brands that are getting it right are the ones who are building circularity into their brand DNA. A great example? Patagonia, who literally offers a lifetime guarantee on their products.

For vintage and resale apps, the best positioning is around unique finds in a sea of sameness.

If everyone on TikTok looks the same, it’s because the trend cycles are faster than ever and downright authoritarian (do we all really need $900 red jelly flats from The Row?). Buying one-of-a-kind pieces off TheRealReal or eBay is a way to combat that, and that positioning feels ownable and authentic.

Which brings me to our interview with Claire!

🎯 INTERVIEW: CLAIRE ILLMER, CO-FOUNDER & CEO OF FUTURE REFERENCE

Future Reference is a new second hand marketplace and digital wardrobe built to make resale easier.

hi Claire!

Tell us a bit about the origin story of Future Reference. How did it come to be?

I think it’s wild that over half of luxury consumers didn’t sell anything in the last year due to lack of time or indecision.

Future Reference was born out of personal frustration with the existing fashion resale platforms. While selling items on Poshmark, I found the process of listing and promoting to be time-consuming and inefficient (it takes the average person 8 minutes per listing!), but it was a necessary evil - I was determined to recoup some value as I started spending more on my wardrobe. Then I tried the RealReal and got a check for $12.50 for a dress that originally cost me $450 – not ideal. I went back to Poshmark and became a student of how to price and what brands resold well, so much so that I only started buying those brands. 

I became obsessed with this problem, and working as a PM at thredUP was the perfect space to iterate on it. At the time we had a consistent surplus of low quality inventory, and I spent a lot of time thinking about how we could incentivize people to send us more valuable items. We threw around a lot of crazy ideas about how to know what’s in people’s closets and match that with the demand already on the platform.

Even after I moved jobs, I still kept thinking about the space and came up with the idea for Future Reference – by collecting data at the point of purchase, we could 1) track resale values for you, 2) make listing so much easier by saving your product info like size and material, and 3) proactively push you to participate, increasing the number of items re-entering circulation. Digital wardrobes have been done and redone, but with AI and how standardized product data has become, we’re hoping to fully automate that wardrobe creation and validation piece in the luxury space.

How do you hope Future Reference will change consumer behavior? 

Our mission is to make resale easier so that more people participate, but I'm hopeful that more people will make more conscious choices to support brands that retain value (and have fair labor practices and aren’t destroying the planet). There was a study recently that said 42% of Gen Z is more likely to buy apparel with good resale value, and 82% of customers under 25 consider resale value before they buy, which really makes me optimistic. We want everyone to think like that, so more items make their way back into the circular economy. 

I also think receipt validation and digital product passports will become the new standard, which should reduce a lot of the bad resale experiences you see all over TikTok (TRR sold me a fake Khaite jacket, etc).

Ultimately, we want to shift consumer behavior towards a more sustainable and thoughtful fashion lifecycle, where you buy better and those items are frequently resold and reused rather than left unworn in closets.

What has been most surprising to you about the industry as you’re building?

Coming from more of a traditional tech background, I think fashion felt like a cool kids club, but I’ve been so surprised by the willingness of fashion-lovers and other tech founders to connect. I’ve reached out to potential advisors, influencers and brand builders and many have been so supportive, grabbing coffee and offering to help even at our early stage.

@stillintribeca was the first influencer I emailed, and she immediately offered to get coffee and help me think about influencer strategy. I think everyone wants better resale experiences and is thinking about challenges in the fashion industry – it’s nice to know you’re not alone as a founder. I’m a big proponent of the phrase ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ and so I think anyone who is thinking about resale or just loves it – I’m here to chat!

What’s a trend (in fashion, business, or otherwise) that you hope is on its way out? 

One I’m really concerned about is people posting Amazon dupes that are really just counterfeits from China. Amazon has relaxed their policies on these producers, and there have been floods of The Row, Jil Sander, and Toteme dupes that are going around. People forget (or ignore) these items are typically produced in horrible labor conditions, not to mention stolen IP. Then the items end up on resale websites, sometimes passed off as the real deal. 

Just look at sold Toteme T-Lock Bags on Poshmark and you’ll see what I mean – I hope people don’t think they’re getting a real bag, but also if they do know, they’re supporting counterfeiters. This is why verification at the source is becoming more important. But I also don’t think you should be wearing the real thing and recommending your followers buy a dupe option to be on trend. I much appreciate vintage or resale alternatives.

How would you describe the future of fashion in a single sentence? 

The future of fashion is a community-driven ecosystem where people prioritize conscious consumption over trend, and where quality, authenticity, and personal style matter.

Thanks for the great insights, Claire! If you’re looking for a way to finally clear out your closet & get paid, I highly recommend Future Reference!

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That’s all for today! Would love to hear what you thought of Volume 1 of this series.

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• replying and saying hi!

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have a great weekend.

- Sabena