Designer Vintage: Big New Business

So they were a bit expensive and one size too small, but you bought them anyway, those Chanel heels. Now they sit in your cupboard, waiting to be worn. Sounds familiar? It did indeed to female internet heroes Annemarie van Gaal and Karin Barnhoorn and so they set up internet marketplace Designer-Vintage.com, a website allowing you to buy and sell vintage designer clothing. On the site you can search and offer vintage clothes, bags, accessories and shoes by size, colour, designer, and prize.

An add on the site is free for two months for items up to € 100. For pieces above that, the site takes a percentage commission. For € 20 there is a VIP membership allowing you to ‘set up your own store’ within the site and advertise in it. The site includes an extensive manual for all those not familiar with the wonders of selling online.

Karin Barnhoorn is a former coach with Royal Dutch Airlines and co-founder of a market research agency. Annemarie van Gaal has a background in publishing and recently sold her 13,3 per cent share in online lifestyle and design magazine Bright.nl. Karin got the idea for Designer-Vintage.com when she wanted to sell a Gucci bag online and found there was no website allowing her to do that.

Realising that most women do not want to be stylish but also charitable, the site also has a section of clothes of which the proceeds go to Orange babies, a charity that supports HIV-infected women and their babies.

Serious competition for marketplaces like Ebay? We think so!

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June 28, 2008 | Filed Under Linde Wolters Europe, companies, female internet heroes, news, start-up, weekend | 5 Comments 

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5 Responses to “Designer Vintage: Big New Business”

  1. Chris Moran on June 28th, 2008

    Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.

    Chris Moran

  2. Linde on July 2nd, 2008

    Hey Chris,

    Always good that hear some encouragement. Keep reading!

  3. New kid on the web; fashion agent the Closet Bureau : The Next Women on November 15th, 2008

    [...] have seen websites such as net-a-porter and designer vintage take the net by storm. But there is still lots of room to conquer the online designer fashion [...]

  4. Recession mirrored in fashion : The Next Women on January 15th, 2009

    [...] prevailing vintage trend should be good news though for online vintage sites, such as designer vintage.com or the closet [...]

  5. Net-a-Porter outNet? : The Next Women on March 11th, 2009

    [...] other companies that have gone this designer-vintage online route earlier are in The Netherlands: Designer-Vintage, and in the UK, The Closet Bureau, which sells on [...]

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