Burberry is the latest luxury brand to forge a stronger partnership with Vestiaire Collective after the premium resale platform lined up Gucci and Chloé in the past.
As of Thursday, U.S. and UK-based customers of the luxury resale B Corp. who trade in their pre-owned Burberry outerwear and handbags will receive a Burberry gift card in return.
“This new partnership with Burberry celebrates longevity and represents a step forward toward circularity,” Franny Moizant, co-founder and president of Paris-based Vestiaire Collective, said. “It is Vestiaire Collective’s mission to support brands to promote resale and offer more responsible alternatives to their community to buy less but buy better.”
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After users submit details and pictures of the piece they’d like to sell, within two business days Vestiaire will review this info and offer an initial price, conditional on what a physical assessment discovers. People whose items are accepted receive a pre-paid shipping label to dispatch the goods to Vestiaire Collective, where an employee inspection ultimately determines the final price submitted by email. For each accepted piece, users will receive a Burberry gift card—which includes a 15 percent bonus—by email within five business days, hewing to the playbook many resale ventures follow.
Items must meet certain criteria to make it onto the platform and qualify for the Burberry gift card, however. For example, only bags and outerwear with a trade-in value of $50 or higher are eligible for the incentive. Vestiaire Collective won’t accept “fair condition” bags, “fair” or “good condition” apparel, or “new with tags” items. Only “very good condition” items that have never been worn will be accepted.
Qualifying products undergo a “rigorous” authentication process by Vestiaire Collective’s 90-expert team scrutinizing every detail—from stitching to engraving. A 50-person quality control team reviews condition, color and size.
“We were pioneers in authentication when we started 14 years ago and have accumulated research and expertise,” a Vestiaire Collective representative told Sourcing Journal. “Each of our authenticators physically inspect over 40,000 items every year and makes Vestiaire Collective the trustworthy platform it is today. All our authenticators go through Vestiaire Academy, our own training school and program, and go through at least 750 hours of initial and ongoing training.”
As part of the partnership, Burberry has donated an undisclosed number of women’s Heritage Trench Coats—valued at $2,590 apiece—to Vestiaire Collective. Proceeds from their sale will be donated to Smart Works, a UK-based charity that provides business-appropriate clothing and coaching to unemployed women in need. Burberry has supported Smart Works since 2013, and in December 2021 teamed with high-end department store Harrods to give 40 percent of each transaction to the charity.
“We are very excited to team up with Vestiaire Collective to provide another way for our customers to give new life to their Burberry pieces,” Giorgio Belloli, Burberry’s chief digital, customer and innovation officer, said. “In building on our existing circular initiatives, including our aftercare services through our ReBurberry program, we hope that these pieces can continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.”
In August, Burberry donated upcycled fabrics to the soccer-inspired brand, Able Made, for its Made2 collection. Last July, the luxury label “dropped another lot of excess materials through the ReBurberry Fabric program, a partnership with the British Fashion Council that helps fashion students in need and keeps unnecessary waste out of landfills.
