Those who don’t have the budget for Chanel and Hermes can play a longer game by trying to spot the big stars of the future. Reavley thinks the fact that Mulberry has been so quiet of late, after a decade as a hit maker, means it could be ripe for rediscovery.
“You could also have fun with Loewe’s raffia bags which launched last year at around £380 and can fetch over £300 second hand now. You’re not making money, you’ve had a year’s wear and a decent return.” Koffsky’s money is on Loewe’s Puzzle bag, first launched in 2016, a playful, original style that’s still one of the brand’s best sellers.
“It’s already iconic and there aren’t many on the secondary market.” Phoebe Philo’s new label, when it finally launches, should be another hit maker, and after a slow start, Hedi Slimane, her successor at Celine, is, according to Reavley, “starting to gain traction with his bags, which are also very well made”.
Bottega Veneta continues to fly, particularly the Cassette, despite near ubiquity. “Customers don’t seem concerned that Daniel Lee, Bottega’s designer who oversaw its debut, has left,” says Archer. “It’s just a bag that resonates with them, in beautiful, soft leather.”
As for colours, Archer says her customers want the classics – black, brown, tan… “red is always hard to sell”. Koffsky’s clients on the other hand want brights and whites. And while Archer finds clutches a hard sell currently, at Christie’s, Hermes’s Pochette, a wallet sized clutch inspired by the Birkin, is highly sought after – a white one fetched £10,000 three years ago.
In other words, in the secondary market, you can resell anything, at a price.
