French shopping platform heads to the UK

French website Vestiairedecopines.com, which specialises in selling second hand fashion is launching in the UK after securing €7.5 million to fund its international development. The Anglo Saxon Balderton fund has joined its capital alongside previous

investors Zagib & Voltaire and Ventech, who invested €1.5m with Vestiaire de Copines back in 2010.

“Our objective was to integrate an emblematic fund, heavily involved in social internet, e-commerce and fashion, capable of supporting our plans for international growth,” explained Sebastian Fabre, CEO and Founder of Vestiaire de Copines.

The first stage of the international development strategy is to launch a multilingual and multi-currency site, with a particular focus on Britain, which already represents a growing community among the active users, as nearly 17% of the sites members live outside of France.

The site launched less than two years ago and works similar to eBay and Asos Marketplace, by allowing members to sell their clothes and accessories. The main difference being that all the items are from high end fashion labels and all parcels pass through the website’s staff.

As well as being somewhere to sell unwanted products it is also a fashion community. Buyers and sellers create a profile, which allows them to list their favourite brands, create wish lists, and actively encourage other members to ‘follow’ their activity.

The French-based retailer posted a €819,000 turnover in 2010, and currently has over 600,000 members, who are offering more than 300 different brands from Chanel to Louis Vuitton.

Image: Vestiaire de Copines