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Fashion Resale Site Vestiaire Collective Launches Crowdfunding

FILE PHOTO: An employee of "Vestiaire Collective", an online marketplace to buy and sell pre-owned designer clothing and accessories, checks shoes in Tourcoing, France, December 4, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee of "Vestiaire Collective", an online marketplace to buy and sell pre-owned designer clothing and accessories, checks shoes in Tourcoing, France, December 4, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
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Fashion Resale Site Vestiaire Collective Launches Crowdfunding

FILE PHOTO: An employee of "Vestiaire Collective", an online marketplace to buy and sell pre-owned designer clothing and accessories, checks shoes in Tourcoing, France, December 4, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee of "Vestiaire Collective", an online marketplace to buy and sell pre-owned designer clothing and accessories, checks shoes in Tourcoing, France, December 4, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

Second-hand fashion marketplace Vestiaire Collective launched a crowdfunding campaign on Tuesday to raise at least one million euros ($1.09 million) from individual investors as the Kering-backed business aims to become profitable by year-end and potentially go public.
Vestiaire Collective will advertise the crowdfunding, which is open to anyone over age 18 in Europe and the UK, on its website and mobile app, CEO Maximilian Bittner said.
"The goal is really to bring our most loyal customers into our shareholder base," Reuters quoted Bittner as saying. "We really see this as a marketing effort to connect with our community."
The crowdfunding is priced at 1.78 euros ($1.94) per share, valuing Vestiaire at 1.1 billion euros ($1.20 billion). That is in line with a November funding round led by private equity firm Eurazeo, its biggest shareholder with a stake of around 25%. In mid-2022 the company was valued at 1.4 billion euros.
"It's reflective of the current environment but I think it is a fair valuation," said Bittner. The luxury sector is slowing down globally as aspirational and high-end consumers curb their spending.
Still, sales grew 25% on the Vestiaire platform last year, a spokesperson said, as people are increasingly buying second-hand clothes and accessories, a trend that has driven top fashion houses and retailers to set up resale sites.
Vestiaire, which earns a fee when customers sell items like Gucci bags or Burberry trench coats through the site, calls itself a marketplace for "desirable" pre-owned fashion. Since November 2022 it has banned more than 60 "fast fashion" brands from being sold on the platform, including Boohoo, Gap, H&M, Shein, Uniqlo, and Zara.
Founded in Paris in 2009, the company aims to become profitable around the end of 2024, and an initial public offering "would be the natural next step after we reach profitability," the spokesperson said in an email.
Gucci owner Kering holds a 5% stake in Vestiaire. Softbank has been an investor since 2021, though the company has not disclosed the size of its stake.
The crowdfunding, through UK-based platform Crowdcube, will open on Tuesday with a subscription phase starting on Feb. 6.

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Fashion

Valentino Mixes 80s and Baroque Splendor on Rome Return

Models present creations from Valentino's Fall/Winter 2026/2027 collection at Palazzo Barberini, in Rome, Italy, March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
Models present creations from Valentino's Fall/Winter 2026/2027 collection at Palazzo Barberini, in Rome, Italy, March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
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Valentino Mixes 80s and Baroque Splendor on Rome Return

Models present creations from Valentino's Fall/Winter 2026/2027 collection at Palazzo Barberini, in Rome, Italy, March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
Models present creations from Valentino's Fall/Winter 2026/2027 collection at Palazzo Barberini, in Rome, Italy, March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

Italian fashion house Valentino returned to its roots Thursday with a 1980s-inspired catwalk show in one of Rome's most spectacular venues, two months after the death of founder Valentino Garavani.

Around 700 people including Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow were invited to the show held in the galleries of the Palazzo Barberini, a Baroque palace now home to masterpieces by Caravaggio, Raphael and many others.

Valentino, known for dressing some of the world's most glamorous women, normally shows in Paris, despite having been established in the Italian capital in 1960.

But creative director Alessandro Michele chose to return to the Eternal City for his fall/winter 2026-27 collection, the first for ready-to-wear since the founder's death aged 93 on January 19.

Under Pietro da Cortona's spectacular ceiling fresco, "The Triumph of Divine Providence", male and female models walked out onto fake grass in outfits heavily inspired by the 1980s.

There were strong shoulders, cinched waists and mini-skirts, accessorised with glittering oversized jewellery, including giant pearls and chunky pendants.

Michele, who took over in 2024, said that during the late 1980s and 1990s "Valentino was still working like crazy and making, from his hands, beauty".

It was a time of "positivity" and "empowerment", when women in particular were becoming more in control of their bodies, he told reporters backstage.

Working with pleats and draping the fabrics around their bodies, Valentino "was building the idea of a goddess... putting women in the centre of the world".

The final dress of Michele's collection Thursday, a longsleeved gown with a deep cut at the back, was a showstopper in the house's signature red.
"Red is very difficult to manage," Michele admitted, but said it was crucial to the brand.

- Perfect world -

The models reached the galleries via Francesco Borromini's helical staircase, one of two in the palazzo, the other a square design by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Commissioned at the same time, they reflect the palazzo's ability to have "divergent forces cohabit without neutralizing one another", Michele said in the show notes.

Along the same vein, the collection -- entitled "Interferenze" (interferences) -- demonstrated contrasts between "code and deviation, lightness and gravity", he wrote.

Valentino, who dressed A-listers from Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor to Princess Diana and Julia Roberts, became synonymous with glamour and beauty.

Speaking to reporters, Michele said the designer made things that were "perfect", but "we no longer live in that perfect world".

"I do it my way, because I am the interference myself," he said.

- Very important clients –

The invite-only, black-tie show was a lavish affair, with many guests invited to a dinner afterwards, and brought to the venues in official cars.

It was broadcast live on Valentino's social media channels and on big screens around Rome, Milan and Naples -- but it was those inside the room who the house wanted to wow.

Of the estimated 700 guests invited, 200 were journalists and VIPs, with the rest VIC -- very important clients, according to a Valentino insider.

Like other fashion houses, Valentino has been buffeted by the myriad of challenges facing the wider luxury industry, from slowing demand to inflation and geopolitical uncertainty.

Michele helped transform Gucci during his seven years there, and Valentino is hoping he will do the same for them.

The label is 70 percent owned by Qatar investment fund Mayhoola, while French luxury group Kering has a 30 percent stake.

Fashion

South Sudan Models Dominate Global Catwalks but Visas a Problem

Professional models from the Juba-based modelling agency Jubalicious practice their catwalking during a modelling training session at a hotel in Juba on February 19, 2026. (Photo by Luis TATO / AFP)
Professional models from the Juba-based modelling agency Jubalicious practice their catwalking during a modelling training session at a hotel in Juba on February 19, 2026. (Photo by Luis TATO / AFP)
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South Sudan Models Dominate Global Catwalks but Visas a Problem

Professional models from the Juba-based modelling agency Jubalicious practice their catwalking during a modelling training session at a hotel in Juba on February 19, 2026. (Photo by Luis TATO / AFP)
Professional models from the Juba-based modelling agency Jubalicious practice their catwalking during a modelling training session at a hotel in Juba on February 19, 2026. (Photo by Luis TATO / AFP)

Heels click on cracked paving stones as fantastically long-limbed men and women practice moves they hope will whisk them away from South Sudan, one of the fashion world's favorite scouting locations.

Many hope to follow in the footsteps of their compatriot Awar Odhiang, who went from a refugee camp in Ethiopia to closing Chanel's Paris Fashion Week show last year.

South Sudan has been mired in conflict, poverty and corruption since its independence in 2011, but the success of its models has been a ray of positivity.

No less than nine of the top 50 models currently listed on Models.com are originally from the east African country.

"Paris, Milan, London -- the fashion industry is dominated by South Sudanese boys and girls at the moment," said Doris Sukeji, founder of the Jubalicious modelling agency in the capital Juba.

"Mostly it's the skin color. That is how most of the South Sudanese get signed. They are looking for very dark models," she said.

One of the first to blaze a trail was Alek Wek, scouted in London in the 1990s after her family fled an earlier war.

It was an image of Wek on her mother's Facebook feed that inspired Yar Agou, 19, now signed with Jubalicious.

"Damn! I saw her and I thought that is me one day if God is there. I want to make it like her," she told AFP in Juba.

All skinny-long limbs and charming attitude, Agou has what it takes for the runway, but politics is standing in the way of her dream.

She was supposed to be working at the recent Milan Fashion Week, but her visa was rejected at the last minute. For now, she is working as a cleaner, hoping there will be more opportunities.

- 'Heartbroken' –

Successful models can earn tens of thousands of dollars in a season, a life-changing amount in South Sudan where 92 percent live under the poverty line.

But Sukeji said seven men and women had been rejected for visas in recent months despite having work sponsors, as the climate against immigrants hardens in the West.

"You get heartbroken," she said.

Bichar Hoah, 24, raised by a single mother in Kakuma refugee camp in neighboring Kenya, was recently rejected for a European visa.

"There are some people who discourage us by saying that we tried and failed... (but) I want to represent South Sudan as a model," he said, hoping to change the narrative around his country.

- 'A chance' –

But even those who make it abroad face immense challenges in an industry known for relentless turnover.

Clients constantly want "new faces," Sukeji said.

There are added challenges in a conservative country like South Sudan.

As well as physical requirements -- tall but not above 5 foot 11 (1 meter 80) for women -- Sukeji must also contend with families who view modelling as a cover for prostitution.

"I always ask them to give the boy or the girl a chance," she said.

She brings them in for free training, which can take up to three months, taking a 10-percent cut if they get work.

Her trainer, drilling the models with the precision of a military sergeant when AFP visited, said many were like "newborn babies" when they started.

But as the young models gathered on a Juba rooftop to practice their struts, there was hope for a future beyond South Sudan's poverty and ever-present threat of war.

"One day, really, South Sudan will change," said Agou.

All hope they can emulate the likes of Anyier Anei, who landed international modelling gigs and recently starred in French film "Coutures".

"Failure is less frightening than having dreams you never try to achieve," Anei told Harper's Bazaar recently. "Even with fear, you have to take that risk."

Fashion

Zalando Says AI Drives Productivity and Expects Higher Profit, Shares Jump

FILED - 22 October 2013, Thuringia, Erfurt: A general view of the logistics center of online retailer Zalando in Erfurt. Photo: Marc Tirl/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
FILED - 22 October 2013, Thuringia, Erfurt: A general view of the logistics center of online retailer Zalando in Erfurt. Photo: Marc Tirl/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
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Zalando Says AI Drives Productivity and Expects Higher Profit, Shares Jump

FILED - 22 October 2013, Thuringia, Erfurt: A general view of the logistics center of online retailer Zalando in Erfurt. Photo: Marc Tirl/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
FILED - 22 October 2013, Thuringia, Erfurt: A general view of the logistics center of online retailer Zalando in Erfurt. Photo: Marc Tirl/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa

European online fashion retailer Zalando said on Thursday its use of artificial intelligence was making its business more efficient and productive, as it forecast full-year adjusted operating profit to grow in 2026 and launched an up to 300-million-euro ($346 million) share buyback.

Zalando shares jumped 7% in early trading as investors welcomed the positive outlook, providing some succour to the stock that had tumbled sharply from peaks in 2021 when the pandemic boosted online shopping.

Zalando ⁠said AI-generated product ⁠images were saving money and time on ad creation and enabling it to publish 70% more content, while an AI virtual try-on was also helping shoppers pick their correct size, reducing size-related returns - a major headache for online shopping platforms.

Analysts said concerns had been growing over the risk to Zalando from AI, with some worried consumers could use large-language models like ⁠ChatGPT to research products and shop online, bypassing the company's platform.

The Berlin-based company, which sells clothes, shoes and accessories from thousands of brands including Nike, Hugo Boss, and Coach, expects adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 660 million to 740 million euros in 2026, compared with 591 million euros in 2025.

"We are providing our customers and partners with experiences and services that seemed impossible just a few years ago while making our own operations more efficient," Robert Gentz, co-CEO of Zalando, said in a statement.

Zalando, whose business-to-business arm sells services to other retailers and ⁠brands, also announced ⁠its software unit Scayle signed a deal with Levi's to run its worldwide ecommerce, which JP Morgan analysts said investors would welcome given the brand's status and size.

The company expects gross merchandise volume growth of 12% to 17% in 2026, after GMV - a key revenue metric measuring the value of all goods sold - grew 14.7% to 17.56 billion euros in 2025.

Zalando's active customer numbers increased to 62 million in 2025 from 51.8 million in 2024, while the average order value was 62.8 euros, up from 61 euros a year earlier.

The company said it would repurchase up to 20 million shares with a total price of up to 300 million euros.