Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

The Secret Sauce of Resale and Handbags with Koyaana Redstar

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

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Unlock the secrets of the ever-evolving handbag industry with Koyaana Redstar, a virtuoso of the RealReal, as she joins me, Emily Blumenthal, your handbag fairy godmother. We shed light on the magnetic allure of brands like Rebecca Minkoff, whose designs have danced through time to remain in the limelight of the pre-loved luxury market. Hear my genesis tale from a humble handbag lover to a maestro in the art of valuation and resale, where I reveal the serendipity of turning my mom's handbags into a treasure trove online, and how a Goodwill gambit blossomed into a savvy income stream.

In our engaging dialogue, we cast a spolight on the circular economy's pivotal role in the longevity of handbags, from innovative profit-sharing NRC chips to brands like Coach launching their own platforms, such as the pioneering Coachtopia. We delve into the intrigue of minimalistic designs and their unwavering appeal in the resale market, where collections like Coach's Legacy manage to captivate with their timeless simplicity. We wax nostalgic over designs that are both a nod to the past and a wink to the future, proving that vintage vibes and enduring craftsmanship never go out of style. 

As we traverse the luxury landscape, we hone in on European powerhouses, with a special focus on the venerable Loewe's endeavors to enthrall the eco-conscious fashionista. Discover how collaborations and sustainable strides are reshaping the image of luxury, drawing in a younger, more socially aware audience. We navigate through the complexities of luxury resale and market trends, spotlighting Gucci's bold move with The RealReal and how brands juggle the intricate dance of scarcity against demand. Join us for an enlightening journey that peels back the curtain on the post-pandemic consumer psyche and the shifting tectonics of retail.

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Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast with your host, emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, where we cover everything about handbags from making, marketing, designing and talking to handbag designers and industry experts about what it takes to make a successful handbag. Welcome, koyana Redstar, to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast you came highly recommended from all over the world, all over the place, in terms of the bag to buy, how to buy, in terms of first primary, secondary market, from the real, real Evaluation Manager. Welcome, welcome, so happy to have you, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2:

This is, you know, i'mvaluation manager, welcome, welcome, so happy to have you. Thank you so much for having me. This is, you know, I'm really excited, which is awesome.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we made the mistake of starting chatting, before which I'm like pause, pause, pause. So you let's just dive right in. You had said that Rebecca Minkoff sells well in the resale market.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so there are some. We call them mid-luxury brands. They're that price range anywhere from like $100 to like $500. They're attainable luxury. They tend to be made well with quality materials. Rebecca Minkoff is definitely one of them. The price point is attainable. It's also available at larger retails at discounted prices, like Nordstrom Rack, tj Maxx, things like that. So it still remains on like the higher end of like discounted, but we take that and we can still sell it around the same price anywhere from like 75 to 175, depending on what it is and that's still like that's wild 50% of what it could have been at like a Nordstrom rack, which is amazing because most bags don't retain that kind of value.

Speaker 1:

Do you think she does it because of the brand awareness and the fact that she is still present in terms of the brand and the social and so forth, and therefore, because she's a cool looking person, she comes across very attainable. I mean, I've known her, she's very nice and kind, but do you think that has a lot to do with it how the brand has been maintained?

Speaker 2:

So anytime, like someone says, rebecca Minkoff, she had a chokehold on like the 2010s, where she had that body bag with the two zippers. Every girl had that. Every girl had that. If you think of Rebecca Minkoff, you think of that bag and you think of going out to the club with your friends with that bag Like everybody wanted it.

Speaker 1:

The morning after bag.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it fit everything you you needed, but it was also small enough where you could just throw it on and party the night away and it wouldn't get in your way and everybody had it. And I think that cult following during that time really solidified her staying relevant. Because, of course, now all the you know nostalgia trends are coming back. Early 2000s are back, oh God, so bringing those in, and they're still buying them because they're like oh, I remember this, this was amazing, I loved this bag. And they'll buy a new version of it. And she isn't by any means an unsavvy businesswoman. She knows to update it a bit. So it's more, more. And so people are buying modernized versions of that bag and they still love it and so it keeps it relevant.

Speaker 1:

Can I ask you something? Just based on who you are, so you've been doing this a while, right, like this became your form of expertise, if you will. Like you've found a market. You stayed in it. You're now a full-blown expert. In my opinion that you can eyeball a bag, saying beyond if it's real or not. It's like I can see the value. I can eyeball if it's worth it. Eyeball it to how, the use and the wearing. Have you stayed in this just personally, because this is what you do and you're an expert at this point? Or it's like this is who you are, you're into it, you get it and you know because it's hard, like at the end of the day, it's still a job. Right, like anything like in tech, I've become an expert. This is my space. Is this your space, or do you really love the space?

Speaker 2:

I actually love this. Is this your space, or do you really love the space? I actually love this? Handbags I have an addiction to handbags in general.

Speaker 2:

There are people I love handbags. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's because handbags are a status symbol on so many different levels, but it's also wearable art, so it's something as a way you can use to express yourself. You can tell a lot from a person just from their bag, like, are they a busy mom who has to carry everything with them? Are they a girl going out to a club who's wearing something that's this big and it only holds a credit card? You know, you can tell a lot from what someone is doing or where they are, like just from their bag sometimes. But I love handbags. I've always loved handbags. There's something about it. When I was a teenager, I was just like oh, handbags are like it. I saw an opportunity where there was more retention on an original retail value. I saw that early, and so I started selling my mom's handbags online. I was just going to say did she know? Yeah, it was her eBay account, because I wasn't old enough to have one.

Speaker 1:

Oh my God, We've had some issues with Depop for something similar and I won't get into that. But yeah, I get it. So you need the parental consent. There's that.

Speaker 2:

But I saw an opportunity because I supplemented my nanny income in college with going to Goodwill, buying these designer things and selling them on various platforms.

Speaker 2:

So I leaned into it hard and I realized that the online reselling was going to be where it was going to explode and I needed to get in early, get in early. So I did what any sane person would do and I actually got into brick and mortar consignment first. I've worked at quite a few places, particularly in New York, and then I was like, oh no, I need to transfer this to online. There's a market here, you have a wider reach, you can get to more people and you open up a whole other market of resale when you do that. And so I was like I need to do something that's online. So then I went to Rebag and I got that job and I was there for almost five years and I just I loved it and it was solely handbags at the time and every single day I got to look at and price and see bags that I've never seen before, because on a consignment, level Did you feel like a doctor.

Speaker 1:

You were like coming in lab coat, like okay, what do we have here?

Speaker 2:

You know, kind of, but not like really, because I didn't get to do a lot of the authentication at the beginning. I was strictly buying, so I was really in the thicket of the research and when I I love the handbag market specifically because it's constantly changing. I'm always learning something new, I'm always seeing something new and, as someone with severe ADHD, there is nothing better than having a constantly evolving job.

Speaker 1:

Is this something with your learning that you consider doing on your own, or did you say why bother? I might as well jump into somebody else who's already doing it.

Speaker 2:

So this is the crazy thing. I've definitely thought of doing something on my own. I haven't gotten to the point where and I don't know if this is like imposter syndrome or something I just don't like. I know I'm an expert, but at the same time I'm like am I an expert? Like I don't really know.

Speaker 1:

That's a female thing. That's unfortunate, but it's such a female thing there's's no way around it. It's crazy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I could talk about this all day and it's like I know that I have the expertise to do something like this on my own, but I think it's also like taking that leap would be really hard. But when the RealReal was founded in 2011, I was gonna say 2011,.

Speaker 1:

But I don't know. I was at the event one of the events the year after, where Julie was talking about it, and you know I met her firsthand and she was giving this whole speech and like okay, and this is what the market is. And it was so funny because so many men in the room were like I don't know, and I'm like damn, she's on to something.

Speaker 2:

She is on to something for sure she was, and that was my goal, my goal since, actually, 2015,. I wasn't old enough to really know how to use that at that point, cause I also wasn't that deep into like high end luxury at that point. But later on I was like I want to work there. So I applied multiple times, several years after they started, and I never, you know, got very far. And then I was like, okay, so what do I need to do to get here? Because they said I didn't have enough experience at that point, because at that point I was just doing eBay and you know my own, so I went on a path to get here.

Speaker 1:

That's what I did. Yeah, I mean, the real real is truly like the Google of resale. So I get that it is. It's so funny that you say that because, like, for example, with what goes around, comes around and I had spoken and that episode's on in the queue. But we've spoken about, you know, brands that they invest in and they only only touch luxury. She's like well, there's other sites like the RealReal that will have a larger array of other brands, but that's not something that we venture. Like the RealReal that will have a larger array of other brands, but that's not something that we venture because you know they have a brick and mortar and it's a lot smaller and it's you know it's a tiny store comparatively.

Speaker 1:

What do you think the value in terms of circular market of brands like Beyond Minkoff and so forth? Like you know, it's off price is one of the strongest markets to date we had Abe Chahabar from AHQ come. He's going to be speaking soon and the disparity between being a handbag manufacturer you have to depend on off price to make your money. I mean that's just a cold, hard fact. So how do you, in your professional opinion, think about that juxtaposed with a circular economy of buying labels buying used bags. Where does that space fit in for everybody else?

Speaker 2:

I think partially. If you do want to start a brand, one, obviously make it an attainable price point, because when you create a brand that is popular or primary market, like I mean, just for an example, mansour Gavriel, when they first popped up in, like what 2015-ish? I mean they might have been around a lot longer, but there was something about the bags that they were making.

Speaker 1:

It was the bucket bag with the sleek leather, the shiny leather, with the red interior, and everyone had it, yep.

Speaker 2:

So well-made, so affordable, mostly under 500.

Speaker 2:

And they made it so attainable that, but also like so attainable price point wise, but not attainable like supply wise, that they created a demand that meant that you had to pay over retail to get one of those bags at the time.

Speaker 2:

Now, of course, there's a lot more of them on the market, right, but they're still selling for anywhere from like $100 to $300, which is still a majority of its retail currently. So I think if you do something like that, you create a quality product, you put it out on the primary market and you create the demand for that there. The resale market will follow. I think that that's just how that kind of works, and if you really put out a quality product, it'll speak to itself that your product is going to last a long time, which means it can be sold multiple times. And that's just where that circular economy comes in, where you're just giving new life to a new owner and you're rehoming your bags and you're just not new life to a new owner and you're rehoming your bags and you're just not throwing it in a landfill.

Speaker 1:

You know, I just spoke to the founder of Digital Fashion Week and was speaking about, like, adding an NRC chip into the bag. So you know, every time the bag resells that whomever creates the bag, theoretically at least, on a digital market can profit from it being sold over and over and over again. I think that's such an interesting point that you're saying about creating something at a digital price point just for that reason. And there are brands like Coach that have created their own resale market, which I think is the smartest thing ever. Do you think that, as a new brand, that even to start almost like a Reddit version of your site, of your brand of, okay, if you want to sell it back, that's fine, sell it on this market. Like we'll create a platform, like, don't sell it back to us, you resell it and we'll be part of it one way, or another.

Speaker 2:

I mean there's even companies now that are working with brands that want to do that, so that they have a resale platform directly on their own site where either people can sell back to the brand or just sell it for credit to buy something else with that company more profit off the money because the company will buy it from them. But there's like new plugins where I'm seeing brands that are saying, yeah, yeah, we definitely want to resell it. Just give it back, gently use, let's do it. I mean Lululemon is even doing it. Like Lululemon has a little resale section in their site. They're like, yeah, it's lightly used or came back and didn't have the tags. Like it's amazing that people are able to do this more freely now rather than like go on eBay and have to list and answer questions and do all this stuff. But yeah, digital is where it's at for sure.

Speaker 1:

You know Coach created I'm assuming you know about this how they started the Coachtopia brand. Where they are, you know, I think it's either you sell back your bag or you get like a credit and then from whatever bags they receive, they just create a whole new bag, limited edition, blah, blah, blah. I think that was like the most successful launch of a brand last year, just in terms of notoriety. And I think you know there's so many ways that people can take the bags that they've invested in and turn, key it into another opportunity for, you know, for resale, for profit, for even passive marketing. And I would love to hear your thoughts in terms of like brands that we don't know, that are on the real, real, that have value, that you know as independent designers or other brands could really benefit from your knowledge.

Speaker 2:

You know I'm mostly in handbags so I couldn't tell you about anything else. So that's all I care about, all right, all I care about, all right. So Sanrav or Sanrev, amazing Polen, also another amazing brand, and the best part about these brands is that their pieces are very plain. That's, I think, something that and I know the whole quiet luxury thing I mean, but that's been around for a long time I just someone put a name on it, that's yeah, put a name on it, it's been.

Speaker 2:

Someone put a name on it, that's all. Yeah, someone put a name on it. It's been around forever. But one of the nice things about bags that don't have tons of embellishment is that they last longer in terms of trends because they're more transitional. If you get things that are lots of embellishments it could go out of style, like, or stars, or rhinestones, whatever. But a lot of the brands like Coach, sometimes Michael Kors, even Michael Kors Collection, polen, son Rav, rebecca Minkoff One of the things that a lot of those have in common is that the more plain styles are the ones that sell the most. And I mean don't get me started on Coach's Legacy Collection that they did ages ago it's my favorite thing of all time and they use, like glove, tanned leather Everything was so unique Archival designs and unfortunately, the RealReal doesn't take Coach Mainline, but they do take Coach 1941. They just started taking Coach Topia because these things sell really well. I love Coach. Honestly, coach is one of my favorite brands.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know, coach, the brand before they were sold to Sarah Lee, that was their original leather. Their factory was in Florida, they were using the baseball mitt leather and you know it was that greasy shiny. You know we all got a coach bag for graduation or bought one and, you know, for a first job, or had those ugly 50 pound briefcases and you said it was coach and you thought you were like a working girl or something or vintage working girl. And you know, to this day, at any flea market you can always find one of those crossbody coach bags where the strap is like basically like a leather strap, like a piece of leather string, and you know it's a twist, tie, buckle and you know the hardware and so forth is so minimal and it's like it's a mini bag. If it were like an East West mini bag, that still, you know it still works.

Speaker 2:

And it still looks great, because where those just start to look better, the more you scratch them, the more like it's a skin.

Speaker 1:

That's what I explain to people. Leather is a skin and like. If we take such good care of our skin, think of what you could do for a leather bag, go figure.

Speaker 2:

People always forget that and one of the things I always notice is like like edge or corner where and I'm like, put some mink oil on that, you'll darken that right back up. I mean obviously tested if it's not black, but on black, particularly mink oil will revive that and make it so deep and luscious again. It's amazing, but yeah, it's like taking care of your skin. You got the lotion on it.

Speaker 1:

Oh no, I use Vaseline. I've used Vaseline for years, like you know, buffing up my shoes before I go out with some bat work, or at the low budge version of Aquaphor Same thing oh yeah, they're a JC. If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you. I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture and market a handbag brand. Broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes. For the past 20 years, I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the Handbag Designer Bible, founded the Handbag Awards and created the only Handbag Designer Podcast. I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in-depth course, from sketch to sample to sale, whether you're just starting out and don't even know where to start or begin, or if you had a brand and need some strategic direction. The Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass is just for you. So let's get started and you'll be the creator of the next it Bag. Join me, emily Blumenthal, in the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. So be sure to sign up at emilyblumenthalcom slash masterclass and type in the code PINECAST to get 10% off your masterclass today.

Speaker 1:

We actually had an episode with Coral from Sanrev a few episodes back and that's an interesting story. Yeah, you have to tune in because she was a hustler. She's done well and those bags are not cheap. They are not cheap and it was funny because I'd known the brand and then when I'd researched it, like those bags they sell for over $500. And I said, wow, that's some chutzpah to think that you can come in and still, you know, charge people that amount and grow into such a big brand.

Speaker 1:

And she said you know the quality, the care, the design, the research, the data analytics, like we know what our people want and we design into it. So you know. Kudos to her because she knows what she's doing. Yeah, I want to ask a little bit about the European brands in terms of value, and I'm not talking about Chanel. I'm talking about brands that as Americans we may not know so much about, but they're big that people wouldn't even realize the value that they have. Can you speak a little bit about that, like the Loewe's and so forth? And people don't know. It's pronounced.

Speaker 2:

Loewe l-o-e-w-e. You know all of that? Yeah, absolutely so. It's funny. We actually have a recording in our bathrooms at the real real where it tells you how to pronounce everything, and loewe is on there because it's definitely one of them.

Speaker 1:

I've like memorized our recording, that is a, is a TikTok waiting to happen. That's amazing, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

So Loewe, if I remember correctly, is a Spanish brand and they were an under the radar brand up until about two years ago for the most part, for most people who are Americans. Yeah, for Americans. They've been around for a long time. They have some of the cutest things ever. I love their anagram. I don't know who designed that, but that anagram is adorable. It's just cute and flurry and just I love it.

Speaker 2:

The Amazon was probably what really put them on the map in the early 2000s, mid 2000s, so that was a little rectangular balletto situation with two little handles didn't usually come with a strap, I mean you could add one or two, but a couple of years ago they came out with like actual new designs that they have with knots and, yes, they had knots. They had the puzzle bag, which I love the puzzle bag I. I think it's so cute. And then they took that a step further and started taking these wildly popular bags that were all of a sudden everywhere, and I also think a lot of it had to do with social media, because the more eyes you have on something, obviously the more popular it becomes, right. And so that puzzle bag was everywhere. But then they started making other bags that were again fairly plain you have to look at, but they're well-made and they're solid and it doesn't feel like they're going to fall apart at the seams. But then they started doing collabs and they started really adding young twists to things, because a lot of the times these older Europe Old in the sense like they've been around for a really long time these older European brands tend to want to cater to older, richer people, which is totally fine, you know, if that's your market, great. But they realized at the same point that I did was that we were about to come into a new wave of a new type of consumer. A new wave of a new type of consumer and that was a generational thing that with social media, I don't think anyone was ultimately prepared for the boom of what resale was.

Speaker 2:

Because consumers now the younger consumers are more likely to remain loyal to a luxury brand if they use recycled materials or things like that. If they believe that the brand is more sustainable or more on the green side, they're actually more likely to buy from that brand repeatedly because they know that they can then resell those pieces for a good, decent amount of what they bought. But they're also willing to go back and use that money and buy from the same brand, loewe, I mean prada. The re-nylon thing alone. That was genius. Yeah, that was genius. Whoever decided that that was a good idea should get a raise and lots of money. I'm sure they did. But that cross body, everybody had one because it was mostly younger, the younger generation. But loewe knew to leverage social media not only to get eyes but to take in ideas and like the Studio Ghibli thing.

Speaker 2:

Do you know how much I wanted something from the Studio Ghibli collaboration? If you grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, studio Ghibli with Kiki's Delivery Service and she's spirited away like seriously, some of my favorite childhood movies were being put onto these luxury handbags and I was just like take my money, take it, the soot sprites, the little soot sprites on that puzzle bag cutest thing in the world. I love soot sprites. I'd always thought they were like the best part of the movie. I thought they were adorable and then you put it on a handbag. Of course I'm going to want to buy it because not only does it speak to my luxury brand inner goddess, it also heals my inner child.

Speaker 1:

Look, this is why there's a podcast about it. Can I ask you, has any brand you know? Now with off price people are creating merchandise directly, a Saks Off Fifth and retailers like that, costco, so forth. Has anybody approached the RealReal to sell primary market goods? Has that ever happened, where a brand has said hey, we're doing a collab, we'd like to sell it exclusively on the RealReal. Has that ever happened?

Speaker 2:

As far as I'm aware, I don't believe so. I mean, I know that the Real Real will do collaborations with designers or stylists and things like that, for either curated collections or they just did a collaboration with FIT where they had, I think it was, eight designers create eight pieces that were used from things that at the RealReal, were either lost and paid for and they upcycled. I mean, the pieces are gorgeous. There was a denim coat, like a patchwork denim coat that was done by this girl. I believe that just it was gorgeous, it was belted, it had wide lapels and it was like I think it was calf length, it was gorgeous. So they doed it had wide lapels and it was like I think it was calf length, it was gorgeous. So they do stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

The RealReal also has a direct relationship with caring. So a lot of their surplus Gucci stuff actually goes directly to the RealReal, typically off-season stuff, things that have just not even sold at the outlets Because you know as an outlet, yeah, exactly, so they send it to the real real. The only thing with that which honestly for Gucci, is kind of a smart thing is it creates a bit of a ceiling resale wise, because we get so much product that's brand new, with tags from them, it creates almost an overflow within the market and it just floods that particular thing and then that way. But it creates that ceiling where it's like, well, we can sell within a certain amount of time because we aim to price items to sell within 30 days. So we look at that data, we're like, okay, how long did it take this to sell? Oh, that was too long. We got to bring it down at a certain point.

Speaker 2:

We realize where the cap is of what we can do. We can price to achieve that. And yeah, with gucci we tend to get a lot of stuff. So like there's that, trying to think if there's any other ones, that's really the only one that I can think of where that's like it's and it's not exclusive. You know, I'm sure they sell to other resales, right, I don't know if it's exclusively with us, I have no idea. But that's just a really good example of working directly with a luxury brand like that and taking the surplus essentially, but nobody has designed a capsule collection or something like that, exclusive to the RealReal for a primary market sale.

Speaker 2:

Not a major designer. No, not that I'm aware of. We did do recollections. You can kind of search our website for recollection. There were some again. They take like pieces and they repurpose them and they turn them into new things, which is definitely interesting and definitely Like a la.

Speaker 1:

Coachtopia Exactly. Do you get bags just out of curiosity from like an Everlane or a Kuyana or sites like you know, sites that are essentially you know, transparency, vertical production? Do those carry any weight with your customers?

Speaker 2:

So I actually just took in a Kuyana, I want to say, a couple of months ago, and it was the first time I had ever actually, and it's funny because the only reason why it like caught my eye was because of your name, similar to my name. Yeah, it's funny, people actually accidentally called me Kuyana when they saw it. It's like, nope, not me, not me. But you know, I saw that piece and I was like, oh, I haven't heard of this. And so I like looked into it and I was just like, oh, this is cute, I like this.

Speaker 1:

It's kind of the East Coast version of Everlane and how I mean the byproduct of retail is all of these companies have suffered what everybody did, what, what Monster Gavriel suffered that you get a little bit of notoriety and then you rapidly grow. You open up storefronts, you open up. You know you got to stick with what works. But I think it's impossible to grow and scale without thinking we need to open brick and mortar, we need to do X, Y, Z, and it's kind of like you should stick to what works.

Speaker 2:

Well, and that, like that, brings me to like Supreme, or you know, or when you do drops, or Telfar, Telfar knew what they were doing. I don't even think that they've made it any different. I mean, now they have the dynamic pricing thing when they have their drops, which is interesting.

Speaker 1:

Ironically, they're made out of PU, they're not. Leather Manufacturing has changed. He's got scale and he can still justify. I give him so much credit because, much like Brandon Blackwood who came through the Handbag Awards, like Telfar, had been around for 10 plus years and everybody just needs your tipping point moment and once you have that captive community, it's not an audience. Once you know you have that community that you can be very judicious with releasing product, you know that you've got the power to not so much price manipulation but like control in terms of what you know they're willing to spend.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, and having with like Telfar in particular, people would buy the bags from those drops and then bring them to the real real and resell them for almost twice what they paid for them. That's wild, like just because they were able to get their hands on it. And when you keep limited runs, you do keep a certain lip demand. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't work for everybody. You really got to have something like random things like money, guns and lighters, you know, things that are kind of innocuous for the most part, but something that everybody wants, and I mean the Telfar. It's a great bag but at the end of the day, it is not an ergonomic bag, though.

Speaker 1:

The drop is too much. The East West is too overdone. I see people struggling wearing that bag and I'm like I get it. I get it, but it's not a comfortable bag, but I get it. I just you know, it makes sense to me.

Speaker 2:

But when you have that audience who loves that, yeah, more popular. You leverage it and you basically you squeeze it until there's nothing left, and then I think it's great.

Speaker 1:

You know, totally, respect that, totally, it's possible. And listen. And it's so funny because I think people like you and me can talk about this excitedly and there's so much greatness. And then, if you talk to a handbag manufacturer, they're very bitter, they're very frustrated, they're very like OK, there's less and less people, there's less and less retails closing. And I've said this from day one when, prior to the pandemic, when handbag sales were going down and then they kind of died during the pandemic. But now things are working their way back up, novelty is back, people want newness, they want innovation. So I just think the customer is savvier and they know where to shop and they know how to shop and they have a better sense of the value of their product and they may not be willing to buy a Michael Kors bag at an outlet when they might be able to save their bag and save their money and buy a bag and then, to your point, buy that Telfar bag and then resell it and then buy a different bag for what they were looking for.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly. I mean there's just so many options now, like with the internet and the marketplaces, that are available to primary market consumers. Now it's opened up an entirely different experience for shoppers in general, which I both love and hate, but I love it. I love it for the most part. When Poshmark started, I was like, oh, this is fantastic. It's so much easier than eBay. But the market was a lot smaller because not everybody was on it. Obviously, now it's a lot bigger. And then there's eBay which man, the evolution of eBay honestly has just it's something.

Speaker 1:

It's something. Let me tell you, it is something.

Speaker 2:

I get that too, and they aren't scaling Nope the proportion, like they're not overshooting, they are just scaling as they need to slowly, which is insanely smart. But it is also the largest worldwide resale platform or not even resale, just open marketplace. It's basically a giant flea market online, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Which is bad Depends what you're looking for. Yeah exactly.

Speaker 2:

I mean you can buy cars. I listed a car at one point on eBay. Did it sell? It didn't, but it made the front page. Yeah, my grandpa, he asked me to list his 19, I think it was 1965 or 1969. I can't remember which. His Gullwing, his Mercedes Gullwing, and it was fully restored and he was the second owner. He had all the original paperwork and we had on eBay for $1.8 million. Yeah, how much did it end up selling for? So he ended up selling it for just slightly less than that and he threw in another car to a gentleman in Germany.

Speaker 1:

Oh, my God, just come back up the car, drive it home.

Speaker 2:

It was crazy, no, and yeah. No, they had it like shift and the funny thing was is like I think it was last year, I just happened to be like Googling the car because you know, every once in a while I want to see where it's at what it's doing. And it was for sale again and it was like twice as much and I'm like wow.

Speaker 1:

Wow, grandpa, you missed out. But one less thing to deal with my gosh Koyana. This has been absolutely amazing. I love everything you had to say and offer and would love to have you back because your insight is so tenable and I think you know your perspective on the full range. It just I think you know shopping, a secondary market, is so intimidating because you know one could feel like, although you might be a neophyte, you might feel ignorant and stupid, like I don't know how much something's worth, I don't know if I'm overpaying, I don't even know if this is worthy of an investment. Should I buy this and keep it on the shelf or can I play with it like unboxing a toy? So I think, having that perspective and the love of the bag and the business, it definitely comes through. So you know, maybe we can have you on again later this year to talk about new trends that you see coming through. So we'd love to have you back. If you'd love to come back, let's talk bags and shop. It's fun.

Speaker 2:

So much fun. And, I think, my biggest, my main word of advice for anyone who's looking to buy bags and whether or not they're making an investment the ultimate investment is, whether or not you like it, don't buy it to resell it, because that's not always. You'd be amazed by the people who come in through an appointment and they're like, oh, it's not worth them. Most bags don't retain a lot of the value. It's a game. You really have to know what it is you're investing in. But if you buy it to love it, the women who come in with a Birkin that they bought last year bought it because they liked it and because they actually wanted to wear it. Yeah, they ended up still making money on that, even used.

Speaker 2:

We have people who come in with a Birkin brand new that they bought last week and like they're wildly they're sometimes wildly greedy with the resale price, which is crazy because they're still making twice what they paid for it. But then women who come in who used it and they're like you know, I loved it, I wanted to use it, I did, but at the end of the day I wasn't reaching for it as much and I think I want a different color. So I want to sell this, and I'm like, great, this is what we're going to list it at. And they're like, oh really that much. I've used it, though, and I said, well, you bought it because you liked it, and you used it for that reason, and your return on investment for this is just automatically higher. So, right, right, right.

Speaker 1:

It's still worth more. Or you could be like Christina Ricci and sell your handbag collection to pay for your divorce.

Speaker 2:

So there's that.

Speaker 1:

How can we follow you, learn more and get more information from everything for what you just shared?

Speaker 2:

Honestly, my Instagram is mostly personal. I don't really have a professional one, but if you want to follow me, it's at K underscore Red Star on Instagram and that's pretty much where I am all the time, and then if people want to shop the RealReal, it's TheRealRealcom.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and if you want help navigating it, because I know our site is very intimidating because, I mean, you got to think we process tens of thousands of items like a day. So if it seems intimidating, honestly, my biggest piece of advice is use general search terms. You're going to pop up a lot more. If you narrow it down to specific brands, honestly, you may miss out on brands you didn't even know you would love. One of my things I'm searching for right now is a neutral pair of boots. So I just check that every day and they launch new stuff every morning at 7am and at 4pm. New stuff every day. It's fantastic. It's an ever.

Speaker 1:

Honestly, my addiction to that site is Koyana, thank you so much and looking forward to having you back.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much. It was so nice to meet you. This was so much fun.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.

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Emily Blumenthal

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