There's no doubt that many UAE residents love luxury fashion. Over the past few years, the second-hand luxury market has blossomed, with numerous e-commerce platforms giving buyers the chance to purchase pre-loved brands, often at budget prices.
And it looks like this booming industry has caught the eye of some big-ticket investors.
One of Dubai's biggest luxury resale marketplaces The Luxury Closet (TLC) has just received major funding from Huda Beauty Investments (HBI), the private investment office of founders of the Huda Beauty empire, Huda, Mona and Alya Kattan.
HBI has invested $11 million (Dh40m) with Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) as a co-investor.
The partnership will make HBI one of the principal shareholders, with Mona Kattan, co-founder and global president of Huda Beauty, joining the board alongside existing shareholders, Wamda, MEVP, Knuru Capital and Precinct Partners.
“I have always been an advocate of circular fashion, and I am very excited about our endeavours with The Luxury Closet. At the beginning of our entrepreneurial journey, we did not have the means to purchase fashion luxury items and thus opted for vintage and second-hand shops," Mona Kattan said in a statement.
"I'm very pleased to be part of the board alongside like-minded individuals, and a business that offers a unique service that fills a major gap in the market."
According to a statement by the company on Tuesday, the partnership between HBI and TLC aims to deepen the understanding of consumer behaviour in fashion and beauty and drive brand awareness and increase the adoption of resales.
Naturally, sustainability is also a key factor in the partnership. “Sustainability is one of our primary focuses and a core tenant for the HBI portfolio. In our continued effort to champion responsible and eco-friendly businesses, we couldn’t be more enthusiastic about our partnership with The Luxury Closet,” said Huda Kattan, the Iraqi-American entrepreneur who launched the Huda Beauty empire in 2013.
"People are increasingly valuing circular businesses as they are an affordable and sustainable way to refresh their wardrobes. This has expedited The Luxury Closet's growth across market cycles," said Kunal Kapoor, founder and chief executive officer of TLC.
Over the past 12 months, the company has listed 80,000 items from 5,000 sellers worth $120m.
It is hoped that the Kattan sisters' sizeable social media followings will increase brand awareness for TLC. On her personal account, Huda Kattan has an Instagram following of 2.1m, while Mona has 2.3m followers and Huda Beauty has 47.6m followers at the time of writing.
“The partnership will help us bring the concept to a whole new audience.” added Kapoor.
HBI was launched in 2017 to incubate and invest in early-stage businesses, with the Kattan sisters applying their marketing and distribution platforms to support other founders in building their brands.
In the past, it has invested in UAE-based cloud kitchen startup Kitopi. TLC marks its second significant investment in the Middle East.
