Sam Edelman taps Archive retail technology for launch of peer-to-peer resale platform
Caleres owned lifestyle brand Sam Edelman has announced the launch of ReLove, a resell programme for its preloved footwear created in partnership with sustainability and technology platform Archive.
“We take pride in using the highest quality materials to design pieces that are made to last," says Jesse Edelman, the company's GM SVP.
"With ReLove, we can extend the life of our products while giving our customers another choice when buying our shoes."
CEO and Co-founder at Archive Emily Gittins says: "We are excited to partner with Sam Edelman to introduce resale to the brand’s customers for the first time through the launch of the ReLove programme.”
“ReLove is custom designed to be an extension of the brand and to ensure that beloved Sam Edelman pieces can live multiple lives.”
The peer-to-peer platform allows customers to list their gently used Sam Edelman shoes to sell through the designated page on the brand’s website.
Customers will select the Sam Edelman pieces they would like to sell and create a listing with photos and a description. Once sold, they will be provided with a pre-paid label to ship their pieces to the buyer.
They can then choose between cash or a Sam Edelman credit as their form of payment.
Funding round
At the tail end of last year, Archive announced a $15 million Series A fundraise led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Bain Capital Ventures and several minority investors.
This brought the firm’s total funding to over $24 million. In addition to the raise, Alex Taussig, Partner at Lightspeed, joined the company’s board of directors.
The cash will support hiring across engineering and brand success teams to help Archive continue to scale its technology and integrations, and accelerate launches across North America and Europe.
“Resale is a massive online category already and growing three times as fast as new apparel sales,” said Taussig.
“Archive has become the standard of choice for well known brands from Oscar de la Renta to The North Face, that want to embed resale into their supply chain. They have quickly built the best in class solution to integrate resale across all shopping channels and distribution operations.”
“Lightspeed was fortunate to co-lead Archive's Seed round earlier this year, and we're delighted to deepen our partnership and lead the company's Series A.”
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