- thredUP — a leading online fashion resale store — announced that it raised $175 million in funding recently. Plus the company also announced partnerships with Macy’s and JCPenney recently.
thredUP — an online fashion resale store — recently announced that it raised $175 million in funding, which will be used for expanding its platform for offering resale clothing services to retailers. Of the $175 million, $100 million was in the form of Series F this month — which includes Irving Investors and Park West Asset Management. And $75 million was an undisclosed investment from last year.
In an interview with Reuters, thredUP CEO James Reinhart said that the company is now in “active conversations” with dozens of retailers about how they can help them get into the $24 billion apparel resale market. The online resale market is expected to grow faster than the other types of retail stores like department and off-price stores.
Earlier this month, retail chains J.C. Penney Company and Macy’s announced a partnership with thredUP as part of a goal to attract younger and more environmentally conscious shoppers into stores. Plus it will provide retailers with trendy secondhand clothing and accessories.
“The conversation from our end is: ‘Look, you guys need a strategy, this is what young people are doing… and if you’re a retailer and you’re not ambitiously trying to figure out how to be a part of this, you’re going to wake up one day and wonder what the hell happened,’” said Reinhart via Reuters
Along with providing online and in-store services for buying and selling secondhand apparel for brands, this funding round will also go towards improving logistics and marketing. Including this round of funding, thredUP has raised more than $300 million.
thredUP has mostly relied on Facebook and Google for advertising for people who are already in the mood for shopping. Going forward, thredUP is going to focus more on TV and out-of-home advertising.
How does thredUP work? When consumers download the thredUP app or go onto the resale site, they ship their used apparel, handbags, shoes, and jewelry items from more than 35,000 brands like J.Crew and Old Navy. And thredUP employees receive the items, process it, make sure it is in good condition, prices it, takes photos of the products, and ships it out to shoppers when sold.
thredUP then resells the clothes at up to 90% off retail prices and takes a commission from each sale. Currently, thredUP has five distribution centers and is planning to open a sixth later this year. By the end of this year, thredUP is expected to hit 100 million in total used items processed.
Reinhart recently graduated from Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School where he was a Bill George Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership and an HBS Goldsmith Fellow. Before HBS/HKS — while working in the Bay Area — Reinhart also helped build one of the nation’s premier public schools called Pacific Collegiate School.
thredUP’s executive team also includes COO John Voris, CMO Anthony Marino, CTO Chris Homer, and CCO Oliver Lubin.
