Article : FashionNetwork, 13 April 2022
Download the original article in french
Officiating in finishing and logistics for a hundred brands, Berry Services launched itself on the occasion of the health crisis on the second-hand market. An activity which now weighs between 10 and 20% of the activity, justifying the investment of three million euros in a new dedicated space of 6,000 square meters, in addition to the existing 10,000 square meters.
The Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre (Indre) company has been operating for 20 years in the bringing into compliance, finishing and packaging of fashion items. Storage, repair, washing of products on behalf of a hundred brands, ranging from mass distribution to luxury, allow the structure of 45 people to generate a turnover of three million euros. There is also a logistics activity linked to online sales, Berry Services receiving and storing collections, sending orders, and being able to personalize certain items on demand.
With the year 2020, the structure has naturally seen activity slow down. Jean-Claude Beneteau then decides to take the step towards a field in which he believes: the second hand. "It was time," the company executive told FashionNetwork.com. "Knowing that we already had the capacity to do so". Cleaning, ironing, quality control, repairs, order preparation… Berry Services is beginning to officiate in this rapidly accelerating field for medium and high-end brands. "The only skill that we didn't already have was photo shoots," explains the manager. "So we invested, and we learned".
The company works with Faume, a French white-label solution for brands wishing to launch into second-hand. And, on the strength of the success encountered, Berry Services quickly realized the obvious: the existing 10,000 square meters will soon no longer be enough for all the activities. Jean-Claude Beneteau decides to put three million euros on the table himself for a future space which will be dedicated to the second hand. The opportunity for the structure to modernize part of its machine park dedicated to washing and ironing. The project should come out of the ground for the spring of 2023.
Around ten recruitments in 2022
Eventually, the leader estimates that the second-hand activity could weigh half of the activity. "But it shouldn't go beyond that", underlines the manager, who points out that historical activities are also growing, and who does not want to see the structure be dependent on a typology of activity. For the current year, Berry Services intends to carry out about ten recruitments.
Beyond pure-players dedicated to second-hand, such as Vinted, Vestiaire Collective or VideDressing (LeBonCoin), or generalist platforms such as Amazon, Rakuten or Facebook, brands and retailers have massively launched themselves into the second-hand market, reselling pieces taken back to their first-time buyers. In 2021, some 21% of French people would have tried reselling clothes in one way or another, compared to 11% three years earlier, according to a Yougov study. Before the health crisis, the French Fashion Institute estimated that the market had crossed one billion euros in turnover. According to the Boston Consulting Group, second-hand clothing is now a $40 billion market internationally.
Matthieu Guinebault
