Back in the beginning of time… okay, maybe not that far back, but back before Luv Luxe was what it is today, I was just a young girl working luxury retail, obsessed with fashion and luxury handbags, with absolutely no idea that one beat-up teal Balenciaga handbag would accidentally change my life forever.
I had a client who was fabulous. Stylish, glamorous, always dressed to perfection. But life had thrown her into a situation she wasn’t prepared for. After her parents passed away, she inherited a trust fund and suddenly found herself with money… a lot of it. The thing is, being a fashionista and being financially savvy are not always the same thing. Within about a year, the money was gone.
At that point, I was no longer working at the luxury store where we met, but one day she called me completely frantic. She needed cash fast and begged me to buy one of her handbags. It was sitting at a local consignment store and wasn’t selling, and she offered me what sounded like an absolute steal. She swore the bag was in amazing condition.She just needed the money.
So naturally, what did I do?
I took cash out of the bank, shoved it into an envelope, drove to the consignment shop parking lot, and did the most amateur luxury resale transaction imaginable.
Picture this: me standing in a parking lot trading an envelope full of cash for a designer handbag without even properly inspecting it.
She drove off, and I excitedly opened the bag… only to immediately realize it was in way worse condition than I expected.
The leather was more worn, the corners were rough, and suddenly my “amazing deal” didn’t feel so amazing anymore. I remember wanting to call her and demand my money back.
But for some reason, I didn’t.
I just told myself, “A deal is a deal.”
So the bag sat in my bedroom for a few days. At first I would stare at it in annoyance. Honestly, I was mad every time I looked at it.
And then I started thinking…
What if I actually got into luxury resale? At the time, consignment was starting to become more popular, but there really weren’t many small businesses outright buying luxury inventory upfront in cash.
That bag became my accidental beginning.
I ended up reselling it for a small profit, but more importantly, it sparked something in me that I couldn’t stop thinking about. I became obsessed with the idea of creating a luxury resale business that felt approachable, fast, trustworthy, and exciting.
Twelve years later, here we are.
Ironically, we don’t even sell Balenciaga anymore. (IYKYK.)
But it’s funny how life works sometimes. The very thing that frustrated me the most in that moment ended up becoming the foundation for everything that followed.