Luxury marketplace RLVD.com is launching this summer
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The End of Ownership
As you are reading this, $2.1 trillion worth of fashion is sitting untapped in wardrobes around the world. At the same time, consumers are buying 70% more in 2020 than in 2014 but are also keeping the items for half as long. How do we make sense of this contradiction?
Generation Z, those born from 1997 to 2012, have defined themselves as a cohort of contradiction, simultaneously demanding ‘sustainability’ and fuelling throwaway culture. Their consumption of fast fashion has been driven by a seemingly insatiable appetite for newness as they feel the social pressures to document their lives on social media and therefore always ‘need’ to be seen in new clothes.
However, this has been rapidly starting to change as Gen Z and Millennial consumers are falling out of love with fast fashion and gravitating to resale and rental platforms where shopping takes on a new, flexible form.
The traditional ownership model has been shattered and displaced with a circular recommerce economy, where shoppers are buying with resale value in mind. Yet, with so many untapped closets, there is still a gap in the market for resale platforms that cater more closely to the needs of both young shoppers and sellers, who are starting to merge into one and become ‘brands’ in themselves.
In the dawn of these changing paradigms around ownership, Resale as a Service Parker Lane Group is launching a circular luxury marketplace, RLVD.com. It will begin by offering reloved and preloved items before moving into a rental and subscription model, as well as a nationwide consignment service.
RLVD.com will act as an extension of Parker Lane Group’s end-to-end recommerce solution. When inventory doesn’t sell directly to consumers through the RLVD.com marketplace, it is recommerced in secondary markets using the company’s B2B channel. Any remaining stock is then transported to Parker Lane’s in-house recycling plant. Overall, only 1% of stock is recycled – usually due to legal issues or irreparable damage.
“We’re looking to empower changing ownership paradigms and believe that the real power for change lies with the consumer and not the brands,” commented RLVD.com’s founder and CEO of Parker Lane Group, Raffy Kassardjian. “‘RLVD’ is aiming to become a verb for seamlessly buying, selling and participating in ownership without the restraints of the traditional ownership paradigm. This in of itself is more circular, equitable and in tune with the shopping habits of future generations.”
“The consumer doesn’t see the items they no longer want as waste, but as an opportunity for value – it’s time for brands and retailers to embrace this shift away from traditional ownership as shoppers discover new ways to access product,” added Lisa Panvino, Head of Strategy at RLVD.com. “By not producing and changing the way people consume, we want to be part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem in fashion.”
Community Shopping
RLVD.com will be a carefully curated platform that is embracing the new era of seasonless fashion. People can circulate their clothes via the RLVD community as a means to stylised self-expression.
Beyond offering more affordable prices for high quality clothing, RLVD.com aims to democratise luxury fashion in a more sustainable and ethical way through their consignment community; both buyers and sellers get a return on their investment because they can choose to keep reselling the clothing they purchase – in a sense, partaking in a longer-term form of rental. After the rental and subscription model is launched, the circularity will become even more embedded into the platform’s service.
RLVD.com is building a global community that wants to challenge the status quo in a way that resonates with the new generation, rehoming clothes and giving them as many lives as possible.
“Beyond a marketplace, RLVD.com is a community driven platform for making connections and sharing fashion, design and culture amongst creatives and like-minded people,” explains RLVD.com’s Marketing and Communications Manager, Maya Kokerov. “We want to work with young talented artists and designers who are bringing a fresh perspective to sustainable fashion.”
RLVD.com is hiring
RLVD.com is offering paid internships targeted towards young graduates to help those facing barriers to entry in the fashion industry, including women, people of colour and other marginalised people from low-income communities, to get the opportunity to establish sustainable careers in fashion.
Their London headquarters are based in White City, where they are quickly expanding their offices and fostering a fun, energetic, fast-paced environment as the team exponentially grows.
While they are launching in the UK this year, they have plans to expand to Europe, the United States.
About RLVD.com
RLVD.com is a London-based luxury marketplace launching in summer 2022. They are the new exclusive destination for circular fashion. Their mission is to redefine views about newness, excess stock and consumption while embracing this generation’s need for change.
With the rise of the conscious luxury consumer, RLVD.com is embracing the shifting frameworks of ownership and excess to help give another life to high quality items.