60% of the furniture at Vestiaire Collective’s new sustainable Paris headquarters is vintage.
Vestiaire Collective / Victor Grandgeorge
If Vestiaire Collective’s March acquisition of U.S. resale marketplace Tradesy put the French company head to head with behemoth The Real Real, the deal also spotlighted French retail’s progressive, vanguard mentality when it comes to circular fashion.
In France, buying secondhand comes second nature. “Vintage fashion and savvy shopping have always been part of French culture,” says Alix Morabito, Galeries Lafayette Head of Womenswear, Kids and Lingerie, Trade Marketing and Special Projects, citing Paris’s plethora of thrift shops and flea markets. This motivation springs from both “economic advantage and the desirability of the past,” she adds.
Indeed, while B-Corp certified Vestiaire Collective continues to innovate with a new and ultra sustainable central Paris headquarters, — inaugurated this week — luxury department store players Printemps and Galeries Lafayette are evolving their own ongoing