Vera Bradley designs resale program

A specialty women’s apparel and accessories brand is the latest retailer to enter the fast-growing market for secondhand goods. 

Vera Bradley, which has more than 140 full-line and factory stores across the United States, will utilize the Resale-as-a-Service (RaaS) program from fashion resale marketplace ThredUp. The retailer will offer ThredUp’s “Clean Out Kits” to its customers, both online and in-store.  

Customers can fill the kits with apparel, shoes, and accessories, and ship them to ThredUp for free. ThredUp will then pay the seller for re-sellable items in the form of a Vera Bradley gift card. Vera Bradley will pay a platform fee to license RaaS technology, software, and logistics.

The fashion resale market is booming. ThredUp, which recently filed for an IPO, has partnerships with a number of other retailers, including Walmart, J.C. Penney, and Abercrombie & Fitch. According to advance data from ThredUp’s soon-to-be-released 2021 Retail Report, 80% of U.S. consumers (266 million people) plan to refresh their closets once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, while 155.9 million U.S. consumers plan to buy items post-pandemic.

"As consumers start dressing up and traveling again, they are looking to refresh their wardrobes. We're thrilled to power an easy and sustainable way for shoppers to earn credit towards Vera Bradley's vibrant patterns and travel bags," said Pooja Sethi, ThredUp senior VP of RaaS and retail partnerships. "By allowing retailers like Vera Bradley to leverage ThredUp's operating platform, we are bringing the value of secondhand to the broader fashion industry. ThredUp Resale-as-a-Service proves that 'good for business' and 'good for planet' do not need to be mutually exclusive.”