Lately we have been hearing about the boom of resale market and the business of secondhand items, which is accompanied by a new mentality focused on a circular economy, a sustainable fashion industry, the awareness that we do not need so many material goods, without leaving aside the desire to wear new clothes often.

In 2018, the resale market accounted for $28 billion, while fast fashion reported $35 billion and the tendency is for it to surpass the latter during the next decade.

Yet, if on one hand resale market can be part of a more sustainable fashion, on another hand it represents a big concern for high fashion regarding counterfeit goods. Just last year Chanel sued the luxury secondhand seller The RealReal for selling counterfeit handbags, stating that they have no capacity to determine if the alleged Chanel goods are authentic.

In the light of such concerns, LVMH alongside ConsenSys (a blockchain company) and Microsoft launched AURA, a platform using blockchain technology “that aims to serve the entire luxury industry with powerful product tracking and tracing services” and make “possible for consumers to access the product history and proof of authenticity of luxury goods — from raw materials to the point of sale, all the way to second-hand markets”.