The Resale Edit: Borrowing $80M with Interest Rates Tied to GHG Reduction Targets, That’s New

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Let's Talk Resale

Trove Inc.

34 episodes

9 months ago

In 2022 alone, there were 150 billion new garments produced to clothe a world of only 8 billion. 90% of that ends up in landfills. No question, the fashion industry is hurtling toward a reckoning. Here at Trove, we intend to learn, unlearn, and relearn so we can inspire our peers, the industry, and our youth that as a collectively conscious body, we can achieve growth without growing our emissions.

Let’s Talk Resale is a foundational series that considers the emerging landscape of resale also known as recommerce. We follow Andy Ruben - Founder and Executive Chair of Trove - as he dives deep into the trends shaping the circular economy.

Each episode’s theme will address key issues that brands face when adopting a recommerce platform. We’ll interrogate the nuances of sustainability and discuss the implications of recommerce for brand control. You’ll hear key anecdotes from brands with resale models that are already thriving, such as REI, in addition to a bottom-up approach, where we interview several members of Gen Z, and gain insight into the future consumer.

To capture the fast-paced weekly news in the resale industry, we have an episode every Tuesday, The Resale Edit, that highlights the key trends and takeaways for brands and their teams which is hosted by Trove's Head of Content, Samantha Dersarkissian. Subscribe to the accompanying newsletter here.

This series is a tour de force that will educate, inspire, and offer insight into Trove’s product and vision. While targeted to thought leaders and luxury executives, all listeners will gain a robust understanding of the state of recommerce. Along the way, you'll come to face the inevitable choice fashion brands must make to stay relevant in the 21st century.

Looking for more resale content? Check out www.trove.com

All content for Let's Talk Resale is the property of Trove Inc. and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

The Resale Edit: Borrowing $80M with Interest Rates Tied to GHG Reduction Targets, That’s New

Let's Talk Resale

5 minutes

2 years ago

The Resale Edit: Borrowing $80M with Interest Rates Tied to GHG Reduction Targets, That’s New

As Sourcing Journal writes, Money Keeps Flowing Into Secondhand Shopping. Yes, and this week we will cover Vestiaire’s $80M in a credit line and Beni’s raise of $4M. There is a lot of talk about how secondhand is accelerated by the economy or this or that. The reality is, shopping secondhand allows us to get nicer things for less money. Value is about as basic as it gets for what appeals to customers and secondhand delivers this in a fundamentally new way.

Max Bittner, CEO of Vestiaire is good at raising money. Vestiaire Collective has signed a €75 million sustainability-linked revolving credit facility (RCF) from Crédit Agricole CIB, Société Générale, HSBC Continental Europe, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs. Vestiaire is private and it’s unclear how great the financial losses are in building the platform but I am confident this cash was needed as I expect the interest rate isn’t cheap these days.

But what’s interesting about this to me is the linkage between finance and GHG emissions captured in the debt. The debt instrument has “potential interest rate discounts based on performance against key ESG targets, including the reduction of its GHG emissions,” explains Vestiaire Collective in a press release. Of course, there are questions about how such reductions are measured but honestly, for now, the bigger point is they are being structured this way at all–which is exciting both in the recognition that secondhand is critical for fashion emissions and these banks find it important to finance GHG reductions.

In other financing news, Beni, the web browser extension for secondhand shopping, announced the close of its seed round of $4 million led by Buoyant Ventures bringing the total raised to $5M. Congratulations to Beni CEO Sarah Pinner. Beni is an innovative way to make it easier to shop secondhand now across more than 30 resale sites and I expect just one of many we will see in the coming year.

Goodwill’s secondhand site, GoodwillFinds has reached nearly 200,000 available items and CEO Matthew Kaness believes they will catalog over a million items by the end of the year. In earlier posts, I questioned if Goodwill would invest in the technology necessary to sufficiently operate an eCommerce business and it looks like so far the answer is yes. Goodwill has a significant physical presence and bringing these items online will be one more way plus in propelling the industry forward. Right on.

The New York Times in a piece titled, Cheap Meets Eco-Chic on the Ski Slopes, discusses the shift from traditional ski swaps to online-enabled secondhand shopping. Included in this was Burton’s formal entry into resale with an online rental program giving...