Posted by SINGAPORE, 9 MAY 2022 – Carousell Group, the leading recommerce group in the Greater Southeast Asian region, today announced that it has signed a deal to acquire Refash, Singapore’s largest omnichannel fashion recommerce retailer, to make decluttering your wardrobe and selling secondhand even easier.
Carousell has always had a core in fashion since it started in 2012 to make selling as easy as snap, list and sell. Focusing on feedback from the Carousell community, one of the top concerns is that users have no time to sell. The partnership with Refash enables Carousell to take a significant next step for one of their core categories to make selling secondhand fashion even simpler, and to power the future of sustainable and circular fashion.
Leveraging Refash’s strong offline retail foundation via 10 physical thrift stores across Singapore and its operational expertise in helping Singaporeans declutter for cash, the partnership will activate ‘empty-your-closet’ capabilities to help time-starved sellers declutter in an instant, to make selling more seamless than ever. Refash has built a strong and profitable foundation since 2015, and will continue to operate as its own brand, retaining its name, platform, and team. The acquisition will drive a synergistic partnership between the marketplaces and accelerate the pace of recommerce in Singapore.
“We are privileged to partner with Aloysius and the Refash team, who share our passion of making secondhand the first choice, and bring over 7 years of experience in the fashion recommerce space. We see immense opportunity in teaming up to make selling even simpler for anyone time-starved who has underused clothes in their wardrobes. With our reach and expertise in using technology and AI to create seamless buy-sell experiences for secondhand, we are excited to partner and accelerate the growth of Refash. Above all, we are most excited about joining forces with a mission-oriented team to serve the community by making secondhand fashion more fuss-free and accessible than ever before. ” said Quek Siu Rui, Co-founder and CEO of Carousell.
“We are fortunate to have a like-minded partner in Carousell. I am grateful to Siu Rui and team for this opportunity and look forward to leverage on their capabilities and existing network to unlock more areas of growth. Through our physical thrift store network, we are providing a much sought-after service for consumers to declutter their closets in a quick and fuss-free manner, and together with Carousell, we can meaningfully enable more to participate in both ends of the spectrum, that is, to buy and sell secondhand fashion. I’ve never been more excited about Refash and its recommerce potential as we continue to make purchasing secondhand delightful,” said Aloysius Sng, Founder, Refash.
Carousell registers fashion amongst its largest categories for both supply and demand across the majority of its markets. Carousell and Refash strongly believe in a sustainable future of fashion. Celebrating a decade of sustainability, Carousell has facilitated tens of millions of secondhand transactions across its markets. Refash has processed over 5 million pieces of clothing, and resold preloved clothing from over 305 international and local fashion labels.
Off the back of its partnership with Ox Street to power authentication capabilities for secondhand streetwear, the acquisition reflects the group’s laser-focused drive to solve barriers of convenience and trust in selling and buying secondhand.
Learn more about Refash’s sustainability impact here and Carousell’s Recommerce Index here.
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About Carousell Group
Carousell is the leading classifieds and recommerce group in Greater Southeast Asia on a mission to inspire the world to start selling, and to make secondhand the first choice. Founded in August 2012 in Singapore, the group has a leading presence in eight markets under the brands Carousell, Mudah.my, Cho Tot, OneKyat, Ox Street and Refash, serving tens of millions of monthly active users. Carousell is backed by leading investors including Telenor Group, Rakuten Ventures, Naver, STIC Investments and Sequoia Capital India. Visit here for more information.
About Refash
Refash has transformed what it means to buy and sell secondhand fashion, and it wants to ignite a new generation of consumers to “think like-new” for a more sustainable future. To date, Refash has processed over 5 million pieces of clothing that would otherwise have gone to the landfills. With a mission to ‘inspire the next generation of consumers to think secondhand first’, Refash has now expanded to 10 physical stores islandwide and counting, offering a frictionless thrifting experience for all. Start your thrifting experience at Refash today.