Tory Burch, Burberry and Toms. Two French fashionistas took their impeccable taste and created an online closet community closet — the Social Closet – to help some sell the pieces they no longer wear and others find upscale clothing, shoes and jewelry.
Curation is a popular theme in online marketplaces today. Consumers are craving not just a place to go to for the products they crave, but also trustworthiness in their purchases.
Marine Soussan-Gouachon spent worked in the fashion and beauty industry in France and the U.S. for several years before founding the Social Closet. She and her co-founder Fanny Chereau met in Chicago through friends.
Each seller must compete a selling form that Soussan-Gouachon and Chereau carefully approve. The company helps sell the merchandise, assisting with photos, pricing and shipping for a 15 percent commission.
“Our ultimate goal is to offer our community a high quality selection of items,” said Soussan-Gouachon. She said the goal was to let customers not only share products, but share them in a way that benefited sellers, users and the environment. After all, why let a good Louis Vuitton go to waste?
The platform began with the idea of one person’s trash being another person’s treasure. “We first did not take this seriously… It was just fun!” Soussan-Gouachon said. “It all began with a beautiful Louis Vuitton purse that was hanging in Fanny’s lobby closet.”
“I was looking at it while I was hanging my coat every time I was visiting her! This bag was there at the same place every time, flippantly put aside… until it found a new home!”
After raiding each others’ closets, the duo began raiding their friends’ closets. “After collecting a veritable treasure chest of fabulous threads, we really realized it was time to broaden the battlefield and offer to Chicago a unique shopping experience,” Soussan-Gouachon said.
The duo hoped to help their fellow Chicagoans find treasure in their neighbors’ closets in a similar way.
“Chicago because it’s our city and our friends’ city and friends of friend’s city… We start local to maybe one day think global,” said Soussan-Gouachon.
“Our goal is to help consumers be both a buyer and seller and ultimately create a dynamic, fashion-obsessed community.” Chereau said. “We’re allowing users to develop a personal style by mixing different types of clothing the French way – simple, yet elegant.”