Online Consignment Shop ThredUp Expands Into High-End Fashion With Launch Of “X Collection”

Online clothing resale shop thredUp, now with over a million members, is expanding into high-end fashion with this morning’s launch of its “X Collection.” The new category will feature top designers like Tory Burch, Alice + Olivia, Vince, Kate Spade, Rag & Bone, DVF and others, while also introducing a different compensation model for those customers whose clothes are being resold online.

While thredUp has been referred to as an online consignment shop of sorts (including by yours truly), the service actually operated with a slight twist on the traditional consignment model. Instead of having to wait until an item sold, thredUp would pay you upfront for the kids’, juniors’ and women’s clothing that you sent in to the company via one of its big “Clean Out” postage-paid bags.

But with the “X Collection,” that changes. While the earlier model is still in place for your everyday clothing, the new consignment payout structure for sellers offers them up to 80% of the resale value for their brand items when sold, which thredUp notes is higher than the industry average of 60%. (Though not necessarily higher than competitors in the peer-to-peer clothing resell space, like Poshmark or Threadflip for instance, who also pay 80%.)

To be more specific, items listed on thredUp for $40 or less qualify for upfront pricing (payouts of 10%-40% of the anticipated selling price), while those with a price of $40 or more qualifies them for consignment.

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At launch, the new collection will feature over 6,000 items from over 200 brands. Meanwhile, the selection of women’s clothing from more mainstream retailers elsewhere on the site includes around 150,000+ individual pieces.

The company says that it made the move to better address the needs of high-end clothing shoppers after its own resale report found that higher-end brands were selling fastest on its online store.

Today, thredUp is growing at a rate of 3,000 new members per day, according to figures provided by co-founder and CEO James Reinhart, and its mobile footprint is accelerating as well, with 1,000 new app downloads per day across iOS and Android. Currently, 40% of company revenue comes from mobile.

Since expanding to include women’s shopping a year ago, the women’s category now makes up 60% of thredUp’s business, and the company expects it to reach 70% by the end of the year, thanks to the launch of X Collection as well as its next vertical, handbags (coming soon).

The X Collection will be available in the app as well as on main website, as of this morning.