The constant evolution of the luxury goods marketplace was under the spotlight in RealReal’s latest Luxury Resale Report which highlighted trends shaping the demand and resale value of luxury brands and items. Among the key findings of the report was the domination of investment-worthy pieces, especially high-value fine jewellery and handbags, as well as the impact of trends ignited by TikTok and the cultural revival of nostalgic TV shows.
Commenting on the trends, RealReal president and COO Rati Sahi Levesque underscored the “seismic shift” occurring in fashion, with trends now more likely to flow stem from the ground up through social media, television and high street styles than from the top down through runways. The repercussions of these trends are steadily flowing through to the high-net-worth (HNW) insurance market, with Helena Evans (pictured) – MD at the HNW specialist Criterion – registering an increase in the number of customers looking to replace stolen or damaged items with vintage replacements.
This is especially true with regard to designer handbags, she said, where policies previously tended to operate on a like-for-like basis. Where traditionally customers might go and buy a brand new Gucci bag in the event theirs was lost, damaged or stolen, increasingly they’re sending links to vintage websites in order to buy exact matches for the item they bought seasons ago. “These are often more expensive, and it’s the same with boots and designer clothes. It’s in the designer clothing and handbag market that vintage things are becoming more trendy. Increasingly people want the exact item that they had, in markets that are changing each season. And we’ve noticed that a lot more when it comes to claims for luxury goods.”
The changing attitudes towards sustainability and ethical consumption are a core factor behind this trend, particularly among younger people who, having entered the world of work, have more money – and full say in how they spend that money. In addition, it’s clear from the latest RealReal report that vintage brands are being seen as increasingly fashionable, with throwback TV driving strong demand among Gen Z and, “making muses out of Carrie Bradshaw and Carmela Soprano”.
Evans has first-hand experience of the trend, highlighting how her teenage children enjoy spending time in vintage shops and, “get annoyed when they remember some of the things that I’ve thrown away.” It’s clear that the current trend is for people to buy things with a view to keeping them for a long time, and away from the allure of ‘fast fashion’.
That’s part of why there’s an increased drive to replace the exact designer item that they had, which Evans noted is a distinct departure from when the replacement policies were first changed to allow people to replace the item they were claiming with a brand new one. “Then, people liked that if something was damaged they could get the brand new equivalent,” she said. “Now, people want to have back exactly what they bought.”
It's not just the designer clothing segment of the HNW worth market that’s seeing a changing valuation and claims profile, jewellery and watches and two markets where trends are moving fast. In jewellery, theft remains a major concern for customers - but market data also highlighted how claims for accidental damage have more than doubled over the last year, and the multiple claims for accidental loss of jewellery. RealReal’s report revealed that fine jewellery saw the biggest growth of the luxury category, which it attributed to consumers gravitating towards pieces with guaranteed ROIs and staying power amid current economic uncertainty.
In watches, the Watch Register database into lost and stolen watches noted that only 30% of the watches on its database were registered by insurers during 2023. It also revealed more than 70% of all watch recoveries were undertaken on behalf of an insurer. Evans noted that when it comes to claims for watches, the majority tend to be for accidental loss claims - though watches do get stolen in the event of a domestic burglary.
“You’ve also got to bear the fraud element in mind when it comes to accidental loss claims, regardless of how wealthy people are,” she said. “Watches are still a very popular item for people to collect, and they often will not just have one. People who have an expensive watch will tend to have several expensive watches and if they’re keen to replace those with exactly the same watch, that can prove very costly.
“You’ve got the issue with some of the Rolex watches at the moment that there’s a really long waiting list – one of the claims we’re dealing with, there’s a 12-year waiting list for the actual watch that they want. So, again, it’s back to that theme of people wanting exactly the same watch as the one they had before the claim.”
