J. Crew launched its resale program, J Crew Always, with Thredup’s Resale as a Service (RaaS) last week, well-timed to be announced at NRF’s Big Show. Given the existing Madewell program with ThredUP, it wasn’t surprising to see J Crew enter resale in this way.

According to WWD, “The J. Crew items already listed on ThredUp are not part of the J. Crew Always initiative.” Historically it has been a marketplace limitation to pull in thousands of items already listed on the branded resale site, often degrading the brand given the wide range of item conditions. This program seems to be a significant step forward to designate only some of the items as fitting branded resale.

Second, segmented inventory allows J Crew to sell in select stores. According to a Retail Dive article, “the 40-year-old brand is leveraging its longevity with ‘J. Crew Vintage,’ a curated collection for men and women to be sold at select stores, including two in New York City.” It is a smart move for J Crew as it provides a reason to visit a physical store and leverages store traffic to create awareness of the online program.

Similarly, Depop launched a collection in combination with Tommy Hilfiger. No bells and whistles to call out but worth noting as more brands are looking to capitalize on the shift to secondhand.
RaaS programs have come a long way in recent years with more customizable storefronts and now more segmented inventory. However, brands need to remember even with these steps, and it is far from a branded experience. In the end, J Crew Always will operate on the same technology as ThredUP, constrained on brand choices such as product title, description, search, and markdowns which optimizes ThredUP, not the J Crew brand. Additionally, at some point, all brands will need to own their customers and keep a competitor from sharing sales data for a significant and growing channel.

The New York Times started their piece, Rolex Now Has a Resale Program. The Watch World Quakes, “There is a saying in the high-end watch trade that there are only two kinds of watchmakers: Rolex and everyone else.” It’s an excellent article for anyone in the resale space. Rolex is not only instructive for the watch category, but the high-end watch category is instructive for fashion, luxury handbags, ready-to-wear, outdoor gear, and footwear companies. There are learnings here for how to view items, even if many are aspirational.

Rolex Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) validates the secondhand market for many customers and undoubtedly increases the value of every new Rolex sold–as a product becomes an asset. By enforcing CPO standards, Rolex will also drive up the secondary price of these timepieces, furthering the quality of the brand–i.e., CPO Rolex will sell at a premium, which is a good thing for Rolex.
Finally, HBR published an article, How Sustainability Efforts Fall Apart; an excellent read for anyone in a larger brand organization working on resale. I listened this morning as Max Bittner, CEO of Vestiaire Collective, answered a question about the metrics his investors watch as a B Corp. Max’s straight-faced answer was GMV, Revenue, and Net Profit. The audience gasped as he didn’t mention CO2, Water, etc.

I agree with Max’s answer and would have likely added that resale models achieving business value is the way we will achieve more sustainable, circular models. Brands must make similar or even more money on circular models if we want them to take hold and ultimately provide more sustainable solutions to the fashion industry.

The So What

1. Even as marketplace platforms provide more options for brands, they ultimately are incentivized to build their customer base rather than the brand.
2. Rolex’s move into CPO can be instructive for others in the high-end watch industry as other industries, including fashion, luxury, outdoor, and footwear.