Second-Hand Luxury Fashion

The second-hand luxury fashion market is benefiting from the growing demand for more sustainable consumption options and is gaining in importance among consumers and suppliers. While third-party providers such as Vestiaire Collective or The RealReal have already been operating this business model very successfully for several years, only a few fashion and luxury brands are currently active in the second-hand market with their own offerings. Authors address different aspects of the customer perspective on second-hand luxury fashion items, but however, there is still a lack of a more holistic examination of consumer behaviour and the inclusion of brand and supplier perspectives in this context. The aim of this contribution is to fill this gap and provide the reader with a comprehensive discussion of the luxury second-hand fashion market and its market participants, incorporating relevant research in the field. In addition, this article discusses how luxury brands should respond to the growing importance of the second-hand market and the increasing demand for more sustainable product options and provides reasons why especially the brand plays an important role in the second-hand luxury market, not only in terms of products but more importantly in terms of the distribution channel.