Everyone is gaga for Gucci — and the love is RealReal.
The high-end Italian fashion house is the most wanted designer brand of the year, according to the RealReal. The popular consignment shop released its annual luxury resale report this week, which declared Gucci the No. 1 label shoppers are buying secondhand.
Namely, fashionistas are clamoring for the Gucci Blondie, a vintage handbag that debuted in 1971, which was spotted making a comeback on the runway in Gucci’s Love Parade in November. Now declared an It Bag, the curved design with the iconic logo saw a 126% rise in demand — and a 500% increase in searches, according to Vogue UK — over the past year, namely after celebs like Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway were seen swinging it around.
Gucci shoes like the ever-popular loafer, which first launched in 1953, are favored by the likes of Billie Eilish and Hailey Bieber, and were the accessories most resold on the site, along with Louis Vuitton bags and Chanel shoes.
Gucci was also the most bought and sold brand last year — perhaps thanks to buzz for Lady Gaga-led and Oscar-nominated “House of Gucci” — proving the stylish creations have no bounds in terms of time.
The label was also amongst the brands most likely to fetch a higher price when flipped — or bought then resold for profit — on the RealReal along with Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Hermès.
As for who is selling off these designer duds, Gen X and Gen Z are the ones doing the majority of buying and reselling, the consignment company noted. Those born between 1965 and 1980 are reselling the most, however, savvy shoppers born after 1997 are flipping fastest. Overall, there’s been double the amount of flipping, partly due to pandemic doldrums and closet cleanouts.
Those groups, along with Millennials (1981 to 1996) are doing the most buying secondhand on the RealReal, which saw a 44% increase in items purchased and 5.3 million new site users — the majority of whom called out the importance of sustainability.
While Gucci was the most in-demand brand, Balenciaga saw the greatest demand growth in the entire Top 10, namely with Gen Z who admire Y2K celeb trends as of late. The most coveted of all the brand’s goods is its motorcycle-style bag, which was the “It Bag of the early 2000s,” carried by the likes of Kate Moss, the Olsen twins and many more.
The iconic bag is a stark contrast to Balenciaga’s latest offerings, many of which have gone viral for their puzzling designs. One such head-scratcher is a $1,790 drawstring bag that looks like a Hefty garbage bag, which designer Demna Gvasalia said was created to be the “most expensive trash bag in the world.”
The jury’s out on how much it will resell for someday.