Burberry Group PLC is encouraging customers to give their old looks a second life by selling them online, a move that could help pull in holiday shoppers and bolster appeal with the environmentally conscious.
In a rare partnership between a fashion house and the burgeoning marketplace for used luxury products, Burberry is teaming up with consignment Web site The RealReal.
US customers who offer a used Burberry item on the portal during the holiday season would be invited for a personal shopping session and tea at one of the British trench-coat maker’s boutiques.
Photo: Reuters
European luxury brands have long tightly controlled distribution and avoided even acknowledging the existence of a market for used products. Lately, however, some have begun pointing out that resales reassure customers about their goods’ long-lasting value.
Richemont, owner of top-end watch and jewelry brands like Cartier and Jaeger-LeCoultre, purchased the resale site Watchfinder last year in a nod to the secondary market’s rising importance.
Others have tried to fight it, like Chanel — which sued The RealReal and another consignment outlet, alleging that it sold counterfeit products. The brand also argued that the site’s claim of selling authentic Chanel products constitutes trademark infringement.
RealReal denied the claims.
“We don’t see resale as a threat,” Burberry vice president of corporate responsibility Pam Batty said. “We want to raise awareness of different options customers have when they want to refresh their wardrobe.”
Online resale for luxury goods is growing as much as 50 percent per year, Jefferies analyst Flavio Cereda said.
“There’s some risk of cannibalization, especially at the low end ... [but] the smart brands are embracing this or at least trying to work out how to get involved,” he said.
For Burberry, whose sales in the Americas have steadily declined since 2015, the partnership could also help get former customers back in the store at a pivotal moment as the label transitions to a refreshed aesthetic under its new designer, Riccardo Tisci.
The brand also faced scrutiny over the disclosure last year that it destroyed about US$35 million of unsold products. Burberry has since said it would discontinue the practice.
“We see this pilot as complementary to our wider strategy of transitioning to a circular economy,” Batty said, citing efforts to help clients repair damaged garments and to use more recycled packaging.
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
RSS