Vestiaire Collective is getting serious about its men’s business.
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Vestiaire Collective, a leading global platform for preowned luxury fashion, is leaning into men’s wear with its first resale report for men and more men’s products. Samina Virk, global chief marketing officer and U.S. CEO of Vestiaire Collective, said demand for men’s wear and accessories has been increasing organically over time. Now, the platform is seeing a steady pace of demand in men’s products and it’s launching a dedicated experience for men. Shoppers visiting the site can choose whether they’d like to shop for men’s or women’s products.
“We have men who are looking and shopping,” said Virk. “When you came to Vestiaire organically in the past, it felt like when you looked at the merchandise curation and photography, we were a bit heavy on women’s because that’s the majority of our business. We’re really excited to launch men’s. We’ve been building up for this launch for the last few months.”
Vestiaire has been building out curated merchandise categories for men, pulling in top brands and highlighting styles and products. The men’s assortment has expanded by 88% over the past three years, making it one of the platform’s fastest-growing segments. The company releases different reports throughout the year, including reports on the impact of fashion on the environment. It wanted to introduce a men’s wear report to find out more about how men shop for fashion and accessories.
“We wanted to highlight what’s trending and what’s happening and why men are buying and selling and how we’ve seen that increase,” Virk said. “A lot of that is highlighted in our men’s wear report and simultaneously we’re also launching a men’s marketing plan. We’ve launched men’s digital branding and we’re launching different influencer and tastemaker collaborations and we have many more coming over the course of the next few months.”
“For us, this is an amazing moment and an amazing time to celebrate men’s resale and how we’re bringing it to a bigger audience,” Virk added. “Now, anybody can go into their account and decide if they want to browse and discover men’s wear or women’s wear.”
Vestiaire’s goal was to launch men’s wear in time for the busy holiday shopping season. The company is advertising on paid social media, across most social platforms. “We’re on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. We’re also doing TikTok advertising and we’ve got some fun and interesting things coming up in the podcast world in our U.K. region [where Vestiaire is based]. We have a nice hefty marketing channel mix and we’re launching with influencers across the region, so we’ll have different tastemaker influencer and fashion influencer folks who will over the course of the end of September and into October highlight their favorite things about shopping on Vestiaire,” said Virk of the company, which is operating a showroom during Paris fashion week.
Virk said men’s wear has been growing in awareness due to the publicity surrounding celebrity style and red carpet style. Actors and celebrities, she said, have changed the way men look at fashion and shop for fashion.
“I would say in terms of what men are buying the most and listing the most, clothing is definitely number one,” Virk said. “Specifically, they’re going after jackets and sweaters, and the next category that’s really big is sneakers, which is really no surprise. Accessories and bags are also doing quite well and are in our top three categories sold. Louis Vuitton bags are very popular and Rolex watches are constantly being looked at.”
Rising brands include Ami, which is up 300%, Zegna, which advanced 260%, and Jean Paul Gaultier, which lept 200%.
According to the resale report 79% of men cited good deals and affordability as their top motivation for shopping. In addition, rare, unique, and limited-edition pieces are increasingly sought after, from Balenciaga’s “Armor” gloves to a brand-new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance in yellow gold, which are available on the platform.
Sustainability was also cited as an important reason by men are shopping Vestiaire, with 20% of men pointing to environmental benefits as a key driver, reflecting growing awareness. And 70% of men also reported that they care for their items knowing they might resell them, turning their wardrobe into a dynamic, circular asset.
The popularity of brands most purchased was broken down by geographical region. “It’s interesting to see the differences,” Virk said. “In the U.S., the most purchased brand is Louis Vuitton, in France it’s Dior, in Germany it’s Prada, in Italy its Gucci, and in England it’s Burberry. No surprises there, but it’s interesting to see because we have this global community of buyers and sellers. It’s interesting to see how that comes together in this sort of demand summary.”
Virk said there are two men’s customers who have discovered Vestiaire and second hand and are shopping on the web site. The first is men, who have found Vestiaire and the second is women who are shopping for men’s wear products for themselves or the men in their lives. “What will happen is as our business begins to develop, and we have this dedicated experience where we’re able to measure more, future reports will be able to do a bit more of a comparison of male versus female shoppers,” she said.
“Launching this dedicated shopping experience is going to give us a lot more information about how men shop,” Virk said. “This is just the beginning.”
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