Shop Hers

Shop Hers was a peer-to-peer online marketplace focused on the resale of luxury fashion, founded in 2012 by Jaclyn Shanfeld. The conception of the company stemmed directly from Shanfeld's personal dissatisfaction with the traditional consignment model. After a frustrating experience where she received a meager return for high-value designer clothes at a Beverly Hills consignment store, and finding platforms like eBay cumbersome, she identified a need for a more seller-friendly and fashion-centric marketplace. Shanfeld, whose background included roles at Ford Models, aimed to create a platform that empowered women to monetize their closets by giving them control over pricing.

The Santa Monica-based company launched in late 2013, after an initial period with family and friends, and quickly grew, attracting 75,000 users within its first eight months. To build the platform, Shanfeld enlisted the expertise of co-founders including Jenna Stahl, then Creative Director at Nordstrom.com, and Thanh Khuu, the former CTO of ShoeDazzle. The business operated an e-commerce platform where users could buy and sell pre-owned designer clothing, shoes, and accessories. The business model was centered on an 18% transaction fee taken from the seller for each item sold.

Shop Hers distinguished itself through several key features. A service called "Sure Shop" involved an in-house team of experts who authenticated every item before it was shipped to the buyer, ensuring quality and legitimacy. This was a crucial element in building trust within the luxury resale market. Another feature, "Style Soul Mates," used an algorithm to connect users with similar styles and sizes, creating a community and a more personalized shopping experience. This approach combined elements of social networking with e-commerce, allowing users to follow the closets of women whose style they admired. Initially available only in the U.S., the platform expanded its reach globally to 129 countries by July 2013. While the company was eventually acquired, its website is no longer active. The domain now leads to a different telehealth company, Hims & Hers, which is an unrelated entity.

Keywords: luxury consignment, peer-to-peer marketplace, resale fashion, authenticated pre-owned, designer resale, Jaclyn Shanfeld, e-commerce fashion, women's accessories, high-end consignment, online marketplace, pre-owned luxury, fashion tech, style soul mates, Sure Shop, designer authentication, Santa Monica startup, fashion resale platform, closet monetization