by Was looking for a new (old) treasure enough to scroll the tens of thousands of Vinted hits? Last month, a new luxurious second -hand platform was introduced, which is not its average resale page. Named Francine and led by Amy Bannerman, who is currently working as director of Ebay from Ebay, it is a much more curated approach. The number of items sold is small: 10 to 20 items per collection and all unique. The first “drop” was a collection of beautiful upcycled, vintage leather jackets, which was hand painted by the artist Chiara Perano. The second is a collection of decorated Teva sandals.
“Fashion [can] Be under pressure, especially for designer-die turn, “said Bannerman Vogue about the start.” The brand is anti-trends. Anti everything that is set up in the industry. It is slow, small and more exclusive. “
She is not the only one. In fact, Francine is only the latest publication in a flowering market with ultra-curated ‘capsule’ used fashion sites: those on which the sellers do the hard work to find out what should attract them for them.
It is not a news that shopping from second hand has a renaissance. According to global data, the global resale market achieved £ 151.74 billion GBP in 2024 and grows.
In this room you have websites such as Depop and Vinted, which have recorded amazing growth in the past decade. Vinted’s net profit achieved 70 million GBP last year, while Depop achieved a turnover of 63 million GBP.
But if you stumble through endless fields of clothing pictures on the off-chance fields in the wilderness, you will be exhausting in the wild. Instead, buyers are increasingly turning to websites such as Retold and other second -hand site and turn to discover these rare finds for them, or to help them curate the “appearance” for which they were looking for.
“We are very curated what, I think we distinguish us,” Melanie Milham agrees, the curate and turns around. “We would wear everything online and that we feel how we would dress ourselves.” For Milham and their tiny team, which contains many minimal, neutral outfits that are decorated with color or statement accessories, and favorite brands such as Raey and Tibi.
This model is not about quantity. Instead, everything revolves around “Drops” by Limited Edition of clothing, often between 20 and 50 objects that are published every few weeks and contain both vintage finds and designers (and indeed vintage designer pieces).
The same applies to the subsequent numbers. It was set up by Clare Lewis in 2018 after a long stay at Topshop and decided to sell her vintage clothing, which was inspired after a trip to America after inspiration. “Instagram had just started with these curated sellers who had a very specific aesthetics,” she says.
“And I said: ‘Oh my god, I’ve never seen it. For me, Vintage was actually going into a vintage shop and hunting afterwards, nothing was organized or curated. Then I saw how these people did it very differently, and I was just like’ I love that. ‘”
As Francine Small-Batch is again. Lewis and her team source and your style vintage and designers can be found before they are uploaded to the website in curated “drops”, where they are quickly sold out. It is mild to say that it was a success: Retold currently has 47.6,000 followers on Instagram and has carried out several successful personal pop-ups, whereby plans for the future can do more.
“I know that some people love the idea of having their own aesthetics and having a trust in creating their own style,” says Lewis.
“But I know that many people also like this idea of a curated point of view. They go to certain sellers because they use their perspective and what they want to collect and what they like to obtain and what they would be happy to obtain, be it designer or a certain aesthetics or a certain era of vintage fashion.”
The market has expanded in recent years. In addition to the subsequent number as well as the curate and turning, there are even smaller areas such as francine, the ultraimitated drops of which are the product of months of hard work.
There are other advantages when they become small. namely the quality. “Websites like Retold made it much easier and accessible to enjoy vintage and second hand. I think people definitely see the advantages of it,” says Lewis. “Only with regard to the quality you get. Why buy a brand new blazer who only wants to make up 40% if you can buy a vintage version is that 100% wool?”
If the market continues to boom, one thing is certain: our obsession with second hand is nowhere possible.
Where to start
Kurate and turn
This is a great place to find everything neutral and chic. Drops are often weekly (Tuesdays) and contain many articles from brands such as Tibi, Sir and Raey. Also keep your eyes open to the new clothing collection of the brand, which can be pre -ordered.
Retreated
Clare Lewis’s platform is the place where designers and vintage can find everything. The objects range over decades (from Issey Miyake to Vintage Giorgio Armani) and make it the perfect place to record something else. The price points also vary: come here for an investment piece, but also for a nice cami from the 90s.
Francine
Super high-end. Francine was founded by Amy Bannerman and sells upcycled items for the conscious buyer. Before that, this was a capsule collection of beautiful painted leather jackets, each cost about £ 350. It is currently working with hiking sandal Maestros Teva.
Jesse and Iris
Before Jessie and Iris started, his founder worked in a vintage shop directly on the Carnaby Street. In 2020 she founded her own business. Every piece that makes it on the website is hand-picked and even better, they are not expensive: think of vintage pieces, dresses from the 1970s, graphics T-shirts from the 90s and an excellent collection of jackets.
Round groove
This company, based in London, describes itself as a “online Concept store that offers curated capsules of praised articles”. They are on the mission to make circular fashion desirable (and sexy); Go to the website to read drops of articles that do exactly that. Expect a lot of high-end designer things with a little vintage.
