Carmen Busquets invests in BuyMyWardrobe

BuyMyWardrobe, the marketplace for pre-loved luxury designer fashion, has added luxury fashion entrepreneur and founding investor in Net-A-Porter Carmen Busquets to its line-up of investors, as the company pushes forward with trying to

change the way people view pre-owned fashion.

Launched in February 2008, BuyMyWardrobe was initially something of a secret amongst London fashion industry insiders however over the last five years the “re-commerce” retailer has hosted 20 events and evolved into the UK’s leading online marketplace for pre-owned fashion and has approximately 30,000 registered users.

This investment marks Busquets first project in the fast-growing “re-commerce” space and she joins the existing line up of investors, which includes industry insider Mimma Viglezio, former executive vice president of global communications at Gucci, and founder Kal Di Paola.

It 's been reported that the new funding will be used to drive BuyMyWardrobe’s growth over the next 12 months, as well as develop and implement an online marketing strategy to increase awareness of the “re-commerce” marketplace. The site also has plans to add new features and functionality such as improved navigational tools and further integration of its blogs content.

BuyMyWardrobe adds new investor

Commenting on her investment, Busquets, said: "I have always believed that luxury fashion items should have a longer life and reselling and recycling our wardrobe is a smart way to do this and be individually responsible for sustainability. I had been looking into the market for a while to invest as I felt the time was right for a re-sale model to be scaled digitally.

“I had not found anyone doing it well until Mimma mentioned BuyMyWardrobe. One of the biggest challenges for digital businesses is to instantly communicate their mission in one sentence. BuyMyWardrobe does just that starting from their name and they go on to nail it with a great vision and a strong management."

BuyMyWardrobe’s managing director, Di Paola, added: “Having Carmen on board is a fantastic opportunity for me and the team to have access to the years of experience and knowledge of one the most successful digital entrepreneurs in the industry.”

This is the latest fashion retail investment for Busquets, in 2012 she increased her investment in online luxury retailer Moda Operandi to back their global expansion, and she has also invested in UK-based jewellery retailer Astley Clarke, CoutureLab, and Caratime.

Image: Carmen Busquets