Faherty Partners with Archive to Launch Resale Channel
San Francisco lifestyle label Faherty has become the latest retail player to join the resale revolution.
The family-owned men’s, women’s and children’s apparel brand has launched Second Wave, a platform that allows shoppers to buy and sell pre-owned clothing through an on-site peer-to-peer marketplace, as well as purchase repaired and refurbished Faherty-owned inventory.
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The program’s backend operations are powered by Archive, which counts global brands like The North Face, Ulla Johnson, Sam Edelman, Diane von Furstenberg, Sandro, Marimekko and Oscar de la Renta as clients. Archive’s customizable circularity platform will enable Faherty’s Second Wave to process both marketplace transactions and to list returns, samples and damaged items for sale after they are cleaned and repaired. The 10-year-old brand plans to expand the operation to include end-of-life recycling solutions, too.
“We have always been committed to greater circularity and we are thrilled to partner with Archive to launch Second Wave,” Faherty co-founder and chief impact officer Kerry Docherty said. “The program will give our customers multiple ways to shop for, enjoy and extend the lives of preloved Faherty items.”
The adoption of a resale channel will help the company achieve its commitments to minimizing its environmental impact and mitigating waste, she said. Faherty employs recycled and renewable fabrics, including organic cotton, linen, Tencel, recycled polyester and traceable cashmere, along with low-impact dyes and finishes. The company also uses plastic-free packaging and offers complimentary product repairs.
“Because long-lasting quality is at the core of what we do, we believe our product only gets better with age,” Docherty added. “Resale is a natural next step in our growth as a brand that has always taken its responsibility to our customers and the planet seriously.”
Archive has seen steady growth since it launched in 2021. “Faherty has been very focused on sustainability and quality and from its inception and has been creating clothing that lasts from responsible materials, so they’ve already made quite a lot of progress on the sustainability front,” Archive co-founder and CEO Emily Gittins told Sourcing Journal. “I think what makes [Second Wave] unique is that they’ve actually chosen to launch with multiple different models in place.”
Faherty wanted to introduce a number of different inventory streams for its resale program from the outset, from consumer-owned items shipped directly to buyers to online, to in-store returns that can’t be sold at full price. It has also instituted an in-store drop-off program where shoppers can bring worn-but-salable goods to a retail location. Those items are assessed for wear-and-tear, refreshed and renewed by Archive partner Tersus, and sold on the Second Wave microsite. “They’ve taken a very holistic approach to this and solved a lot of different customer needs with different models, which is really exciting to see,” Gittins said.
In recent months, Archive has rolled out a new feature that allows consumers to post on a specialized page on brand’s resale microsite in search of a specific product. Ulla Johnson and DVF debuted their platforms, dubbed “Heart’s Desire” and “Missed Connections,” respectively, this spring. “I saw this dress and loved it when it came out, but unfortunately I did not get a chance to buy so. Please let me know if anyone is selling it in my size,” one DVF fan wrote alongside a photo of a dress from a past season. Shoppers can respond directly and list items from their wardrobes for sale, and brand teams can even reach out to previous known purchasers to see if they’d be interested in selling, Gittins said.
“A lot of these brands have incredibly strong communities around, but there are limited ways for people to engage with each other today,” she said. “This peer-to-peer offering allows people to directly buy and sell to each other, so it’s encouraging them to interact in different ways.”
While the majority of brands are still using e-commerce as their main resale channel, Gittins said Archive is starting to see labels, like Marimekko, explore bringing pre-owned collections into stores through activations or secondhand sections. “I think that’s the next wave in this space,” she added.
According to Gittins, the demand for brand-owned channels is growing alongside consumer interest in resale. “Consumers are asking for it,” she said. “They’re more willing to buy through secondhand channels when a brand is offering it.” What’s more, they’re also willing to pay for full price for new goods knowing they have the option to resell in the future. Shoppers are doing their research about a product’s resale viability before even making a purchase.
“It’s such a common behavior now, where people are thinking, ‘I want to invest in this purchase, but what if it’s not on trend in a year’s time? Will I be able to get any value back for it?’” Gittins said. Consumers have become increasingly savvy about the ecological upsides of a circular economy and secondhand shopping, but when it comes down to it, “The No. 1 motivation is still value.”
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