This Week's Obsession: The Circular Luxury Club

Selfridges

Why do people join clubs?  Typically people join clubs around an interest they have and hope to meet other like-minded people.  There may also be benefits to being part of a club, such as access to things of interest, discounts, or exclusive events.  We saw a huge opportunity to partner with Front Row, the luxury designer rental platform to redefine how luxury consumers consume.


We started out defining what we believe is a fully circular model and made it our vision to launch the first fully circular luxury platform. Our aim is to reduce overconsumption in the luxury fashion sector while democratizing luxury by making it more accessible.

In building a circular luxury platform, we started to consider ways to build a highly-engaged community built of people who love luxury goods. We wanted to start to change the way people shop by offering alternatives that drive down overconsumption and overproduction, while still allowing people to enjoy the luxury goods they covet.  This we see as a win for the luxury brands, their customers, and us. 

We want people who want to make a conscious choice in how they consume their luxury goods to join the circular luxury club.  This will not only benefit them financially but as more people adopt this model, the planet will benefit.  We want to be part of driving the change where the luxury goods industry becomes circular.

●Customers can reduce overall consumption by changing their mindset about ownership and access.  By choosing rental, resale, subscription and co-ownership models based on their needs and leaving traditional ownership for purchases of items that are used daily or frequently.
●Through a single platform, goods are shared within the community, either through co-owning, lending, borrowing or reselling driving up utilisation whilst lowering the required investment.Even more important was being able to ensure all the people in the community were trusted members.  That everyone would have trust that all members will follow the rules, take care of the shared resources, and ensure the benefits of sharing were available to every member.  This is a pretty big order for a community, which may be loosely defined. That is why we decided to make membership in the club mandatory to participate in our Circular Luxury Platform

Here's how we will play a role. 

1. Reduce overproduction through sharing models - produce 1 piece instead of 5
2. Partner with luxury brands that are designing for longevity, reducing waste, and focusing on sustainable production
3. Invest in luxury goods made of high quality for sharing 
4. Increase the utilisation of the product rather than having it sit idly
5. Maintain and repair items to extend life
6. Resell shares or items to continue to extend life
7. End of life – we believe that by investing in high end pieces and maintaining and repairing them, we can extend their lives to be part of our vintage offering decades from now.  

 

What are the Benefits?

We first launched the club as part of our designer bag collection, but soon jewellery co-owners and subscribers will join the club as well. 

The benefits are plenty: 

  1. You make a fraction of the required investment.
  2. You outsource all the hassles of ownership to us: cleaning, maintenance, insurance, storage, and delivery are all handled by our team.
  3. You have more designer bags! As member of the club, you can borrow other designer bags from fellow members. 
  4. You can monetise your share by loaning it out to other members when you’re not using it. 
  5. You can sell your share to another member on our platform when you want to trade up.

 The Circular Luxury Club is perfect for those who want to engage in a more conscious way to consume luxury goods or for those who just want to enjoy more designer bags without the expense and hassles of owning them outright.  Either way, it’s the savvy way to have more of what you love.