CHINA. A new Shanghai-based clothing resale aggregator has been officially launched after receiving its first pre-seed investment.

Named dejaWOOO, the platform was developed with the aim of promoting sustainable fashion rather than fast fashion in the Chinese market.

dejaWOOO – which has said it wants to inspire Chinese consumers to “see fashion differently” – was co-founded by Chen Liang and Gregory Cole, who also run the boutique brand, marketing and communications consultancy ÉCLAIR Asia.

The first investors in the company are Jean-Michel Dumont, founding member of Asia Society France and Senior Adviser at Finn Partners.

Initially, the company will organize products from selected global platforms through its e-commerce website and WeChat mini-program.

DejaWOOO founders aim to make the new company the most comprehensive aggregator of second-hand clothing in the world, enabling Chinese consumers to search, browse and compare millions of products from a growing list of international resale platforms. .

“With dejaWOOO, we are building a bridge between international resale platforms, Chinese consumers and luxury brands seeking to participate in the second-hand market” – dejaWOOO Co-Founder Gregory Cole

Cole told the Moodie Davitt Report that dejaWOOO is already connected to eight resale platforms around the world, including The Luxury Closet, Collector Square and What Goes Around Comes Around, providing access to over 100,000 products.

“Going forward, we’ve identified at least 40 platforms that meet our key criteria, focusing on pre-owned luxury and designer fashion,” Cole told us.

In addition to offering a convenient and transparent way to shop for pre-owned premium and luxury fashion, dejaWOOO will invite Chinese consumers and luxury brands to embrace the global fashion circular movement through its own capsule collections. “WOOO Series”, its social video content and influencer activations. .

The company observed that China is entering a period of boom in the consumption of second-hand luxury fashion. Representing around 8% of the global market, this segment of the Chinese fashion market has historically underperformed its main luxury consumption, according to dejaWOOO.

Domestically, the occasion also occupies a smaller share of the total luxury market in China (5%) than in Western countries and Japan (30%). But, noted dejaWOOO, it is quickly catching up, with growth of more than + 20% year-on-year from 2014 to 2018.

Liang said, “We are delighted to finally share our vision of dejaWOOO, just as China enters a turning point in the growth of circular fashion. With dejaWOOO, we hope to inspire more and more Chinese consumers to change their perception of the second-hand market and expand their fashion horizon to include iconic styles spanning decades, not just the latest collection.

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He added, “We want to build a community, not just a tool, where people are open-minded, daring and embrace sustainability. “

Cole said, “China is the world leader in luxury fashion consumption, but it has been slow to embrace second-hand fashion, in part because of low consumer confidence in authenticity. Meanwhile, we know that international platforms that benefit from sophisticated authentication teams are eager to engage with Chinese consumers.

“With dejaWOOO, we are building a bridge between international resale platforms, Chinese consumers and luxury brands looking to participate in the second-hand market.

“With our luxury marketing experience and data analytics resources, we can aggregate and present their products in a way that meets the shopping preferences of globally-minded Chinese consumers, and help them better understand the needs and wants of these consumers. “

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