Creating a market for pre-owned luxury items

The idea behind this online initiative is to provide pre-owned luxury Indian designer wear, watches, bags, shoes and jackets to netizens at affordable prices.

With global online sales for women’s luxury fashion expected to surge, pre-owned luxury selling is comparatively a new concept in India. There is sure a huge market opportunity out there, but it’s too soon to comment. Secret Dresser, brain child of Dimple Mirchandani, is a platform for buying and selling pre-owned luxury products. Retailer media caught up with the young woman entrepreneur, who is also a holistic nutrition expert, and discussed about her maiden venture, challenges and opportunities in the space and the way forward.

How was the idea of your start-up conceptualised?
The idea sure comes from my own collection, the exquisite Indian outfits that sometimes took months to be made by the best Indian designers, barely worn once with utmost care and, some never worn lay hanging in the closet. You got to do something about them, so what’s better than sharing? And as for bags and accessories, similar concept has been prevalent abroad from quite some time and is very well accepted.

Ours is a platform for buying and selling pre-owned luxury products, everything from premium Indian designer wear like Sabhyasachi, Anjalee Arjun Kapoor to watches, bags, shoes, jackets by International designers like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Karen Millen, Ted baker.

The aim is to increase the rotation of products which will ultimately benefit the society and the planet in some way. Also, for the aspirational set of people, they can now buy original luxury at affordable prices!

What is your business model?
Anyone can buy and sell through the portal. Our website is 100 per cent buyer/seller protected and user-friendly. It helps people buy authentic luxurious clothing at a minimal price range saving their money and time on searching for lookalikes of original branded clothes which are hard to find. The company works on a commission-based consignment model.

Can the customers see the products before they pay for them? 
Secret Dresser is an eCommerce portal, all thanks to the advancement in technology we are no more restricted to a particular space, city or country. Ours is a global platform. However, we do have an option of private viewing of products, available only in New Delhi as of now and we do plan to expand in those terms and make this feature available in more places.

What has been your biggest challenge so far and how are you addressing it?
Every start-up comes with a set of challenges of its own. A new venture never comes easy. For us, the challenge was to remove the mental block of second-hand notion amongst people, especially when it came to clothing and apparel. The products listed are mostly unused or once worn. The response has been over-whelming, people are happily accepting it. We hope they continue to do so even more. However, I truly believe that challenges are good - they make you work harder. So, there is nothing that cannot be done over with hard work and dedication.