Lisa Caldwell’s Pre-Loved Closet website sells used designer clothes

A Sydney designer second-hand clothing business has taken off, mostly thanks to a younger generation of buyers wanting to both save the planet, and some pennies, when curating their wardrobes.

What started as a small side hustle for Lisa Caldwell has turned into a lucrative business.

In just two years, the well-connected Sydney businesswoman has taken her designer second-hand clothing venture from Instagram page to full-fledged website, which crashed within days of launching due to overwhelming demand.

Caldwell’s website, The Pre-Loved Closet (PLC) 2.0, is inspired by international consignment fashion juggernauts, The RealReal, Thredup and Vestiaire Collective (a sector with a market value of $379 billion).

The Pre-Loved Closet founder Lisa Caldwell.

a model in one of the designer outfits.

Her loyal following is down thanks to a younger generation of buyers wanting to both save the planet, and some pennies when curating their wardrobes.

“I started off with a friend’s wardrobe and mine and then
I got inundated with requests from more friends and then friends of friends,” Caldwell said.

“(Model) Montarna Pitt reached out through a friend and I did her closet which was really when the business started to gain huge momentum.”

Since, she has sold off preloved designer clothing once sported by A-listers such as Aussie Home Loans heiress Deborah Symond-O’Neil and influencers Nadia Fairfax and Rozalia Russian.

Client Montarna McDonald said she isn’t surprised by Caldwell’s quick success.

“PLC is doing so well because Lisa has identified all the bits people don’t like about selling their designer fashion online, and managed them in-house so people find it easy and enjoyable to use her service,” McDonald said.

“I chose to use PLC because it was so easy compared to other selling sites. I’m time poor and while I’d been wanting to do something like this for ages, I found the eBay selling process so lengthy it put me off.”

And just because it’s preloved, doesn’t mean it’s cheap.

Caldwell has sold luxury label bags for up to $15,000 and will this week do a Bottega Veneta edit.

“The most expensive item I have sold is a Hermes Birkin which sold for $15,000,” she said.

“And soon I will sell a new, very in-demand, Hermes Bag. I’ve had people already emailing me about it saying they heard there is one coming. The price point is higher than 25k.”

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