[FROM THE ARCHIVES] How The RealReal Changed Luxury Resale Forever

0:00Hi, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Let's Get Dressed. It's your host, Lib Perez. I am currently on a much-deserved summer holiday, but don't worry, I'm not leaving you guys hanging. Some of the best fashion lives in the archives, and the same goes for podcasts. So over the next few weeks, I'll be re-airing some of my favorite past episodes, and I hope you guys enjoy. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Let's Get Dressed. It's your host, Lib Perez. Today we have on a serial entrepreneur who has definitely changed the way I and probably so many of you listening have shopped.

0:37From shuttering a business to building a billion dollar business, Julie Rainwright is the founder of The RealReal and is an entrepreneur who has truly seen it all. After serving as the CEO of Pets.com and actually experiencing its collapse after it went public during the dot-com crash, Julie had to reinvent herself and she went on to build The RealReal. the luxury resale platform that revolutionized the fashion industry. In today's episode, Julie opens up about how she turned a major setback into her biggest company yet, the innovations that really set the real real apart and still do to this day, and the really powerful lessons that she learned as a woman navigating the business world.

1:17In case you're extra inspired by today's conversation, Julie is also coming out with her memoir, Time to Get Real, How I Built a billion dollar business that rocked the fashion industry. It is coming out tomorrow, June 10th, and is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I've linked it in the description of this episode. Before we get going, a quick housekeeping note. If you love this podcast, you will definitely love my new Substack newsletter, Let's Get Dressed. As a subscriber, you will get weekly fashion deep dives, daily styling tips, trend forecasting, and access to an incredible community of fashion lovers alike.

1:52And as a thank you to you guys for being my podcast listeners, I'm giving you three months free when you subscribe for the full year. That's just$63 for exclusive content and access to my private style chat, where you can ask me questions directly, like what to wear to a friend's wedding or how to style that new shoe that you just got for your closet. You can sign up through the link in the show notes, and I hope to see you guys there. Now let's go get dressed with Julie Wainwright. Hi, Julie. Hi, Liv. I'm so thrilled to have you here today.

2:22Julie Wainwright: Oh, I'm so happy you're having me on. This is fun. I love that you're in New York. Oh, thanks. I know it was kismet timing for us because we were booking this and I was like, I'm coming to town and now we're in this insanely chic room and your outfit matches perfectly with the room. Like it's just fun. It's so nice. I am such a fan and admirer of you and your work. I am like an OG real, Real Girl. I think I've been on there since 2012. Every time I sign on there, it says like. Oh, wow, you are. You're very early. Very early. I think my mom, who's a big fashion lover, was an early adopter of The Real Real.

2:57And yeah.

2:58Julie Wainwright: We launched in June of 2011. So you're really early then. I'm such a big fan. Well, thank you. Of course. And especially now you're writing a book. You have so much to look forward to. I'm so excited to dive into all that today. Okay. I'm a little nervous about the book coming. I'm excited. But nervous. For me, it was, I felt like the story of creating The RealReal was a big story. Yeah. And it has so many lessons along the way. And it was mostly fun, but it was also crazy. Yeah. That I wanted to write a true story because, let me tell you, going out to meet with publishers, which my agent did, she heard time and time again, women's business books don't sell.

3:39Julie Wainwright: And I mean, we ended up with a couple of offers. But I mean, that was, you know, 98 percent. No, you only need one or you self-publish. But women's business books don't sell. And then when I thought about it, I buy most women's business books. Yeah. And they're more promotional. Right. And which is fine. And they serve a purpose. This isn't. This is really it's sort of down and dirty what it's like to, you know, create something which started my home to getting it to a billion dollars and working in the venture capital world. And I take you year by year on what happened and stories and anecdotes and, you know, to present day.

4:22Julie Wainwright: So it's a ride. It's a ride. But starting a company is a ride. You know, it's really something. I think now more than ever, there's a very big appetite for stories from women in tech who have gone on to work in other industries that are not just Silicon Valley focused. Julia and I actually have a friend who has an Instagram account called Data But Make It Fashion. She went to Harvard. Oh, I know that site. Best. Love it. Love it. Yep. And I think her rise and her kind of not overnight success, but she's definitely had a very high demand in the last year. And I think it's because there is this appetite for more stories from other people who have taken what they love and turned it either into a fashion business or a beauty business, but not sacrificed, not having to be in the tech space or the startup space.

5:09It's amazing. Let's first, before we go in there, we always open the show with asking what you wore to pod today. So let's start there. Before we get into the nitty gritty of the real real, I have to know what you put on today because everything about your outfit is perfect. That ring is unbelievable. Which one? The one on your... This one? Anti ring finger. All right. All right.

5:30Julie Wainwright: So this is Diane von Furstenberg. It's the perfect wrap dress. I love her things. I know her. I consider her a friend. And honestly, she knows how to cut for women. They're so easy to wear. They're gorgeous. And I mean, they're sexy. Yes. You look amazing. Which is what I think she is, right? She's all those things. She's so fabulous. She is so fabulous. Without a doubt. These are Louboutins. Yep. I need my platforms because I'm short. Oh, my. These are all real, real. Okay. So we've got some Cartier. We've got some Cartier. Love. This is my friend. You may even know. Darn it. I wish I knew. Anyway, from LA, Fran Lasker.

6:11Julie Wainwright: Her daughter does jewelry. Do you know Fran? Do you know her daughter? This is crazy. I grew up with them. That was one of my mom's oldest friends. Oh my gosh. So Sienna's jewelry line. That's Sienna's? That is Sienna. Sienna, I'm giving you a call, babe. Yeah. Wow. It's gorgeous. I can't. I know. I'm LA born in red. Born in red. So whenever I wear this, everyone's like, where can I buy this? I'm like, yeah, I can hook you up. It's so gorgeous. So love this. And do I have a gold hoops? Yeah, I don't. These might even be Cartier. They're beautiful. And then Presley Oldham. Do you know him? Presley?

6:49I don't think so.

6:50Julie Wainwright: He's adorable. He's a young designer. He tends to take other jewelry and other and remakes jewelry. These are two of his necklaces, which I love him. So he's working really, really hard. Everything is recirculated, recycled jewelry. So this is him. I talked to him to actually help him with his business. He's sort of a one man show trying to do everything. And he's young and gorgeous, but he's going to fall apart at some point. And we all need mentors like you. Okay. He's going to fall apart. And this is another Sienna. Oh, wow. Oh my God. This is a crazy thing that you're here on the podcast wearing all Sienna's jewelry.

7:27I love that.

7:27Julie Wainwright: What a small world moment. But I think her things are so wearable and they're beautiful. And she's been doing it for a long time. She has. Another successful entrepreneur. Yeah. Yes. I love it. And who makes your glasses? I do not know, but I wouldn't doubt if they're Ray-Ban. I think so. Clear. Yeah. They're beautiful. For you as someone who is clearly in a lot of like power rooms, you're pitching, you're kind of out there all the time. I love that you just said the DVF wrap dress is part of your kind of repertoire of quote unquote power suits. What else is in your wardrobe that if you have a big meeting or a podcast or something that feels important that you're like, OK, this is my boss outfit?

8:05Julie Wainwright: Well, I still wear a lot of suits. I still love pantsuits because they're so easy and they're flexible. And I have two go to's Alexander McQueen, which I love everything about it, except when their shoulder pads got too extended, but you can still find some that aren't, you know, way out like three feet. Anyway, love them. And if I, I mean, I will buy two or three at a time. And also they have good resale value, very important. And then you still have to look, but can be really sexy, sexy, but really professional Dolce suits. Oh, wow. So, but again, you have to look. More form-fitting. Well, I just bought a pair of, I bought a brown pinstiped suit from them that has wide-leg pants.

8:50Julie Wainwright: Cute. And a cute tight jacket. So cute. Love that. So different. Yeah. Very fresh. But I would say Alexander McQueen's my suit. I know, you know, I'm petite, so I have to, I wish I could wear other designs. Like, I love a good Celine jacket. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Love. That is one of my biggest real, real searches. Celine jackets. Love it. Yep. They're so well-made. and I just feel like timeless. They're timeless. And like a little edgy in the best way. Yes, I agree. Not something that feels too like thin. It gives you a great shape, a Celine jacket, in my opinion. Yep. And you brought up shoulder pads before.

9:25What do you say to the shoulder pad haters? I'm a shoulder pad lover.

9:28Julie Wainwright: Well, look, I wear, I mean, I don't have a shoulder pads on today. I think there's shoulder pads and then there's shoulder pads. Yes. And I think a good shoulder pad when they brought it back, you know, because the 80s were crazy. Yep. When they brought it back and it was more just a little bit. They didn't go extreme. And even remember when Alexander McQueen did the little like turk up? Yes. I thought it was fabulous. It cut a nice line. I have to say now the ones, I mean, they have really big ones. Yeah, they're giant. And for someone who's shorter. Yep. They look ridiculous. Yeah. And I put it on because the salespeople, oh, you got to try this on.

10:04Julie Wainwright: I'm like, I'm going to do this for you. And then I come out, they're like, that looks ridiculous. Yes. And I'm like, I know. So the question is who can wear it? And I'd say if you are 5 '11 to 6 '2, you can wear it. Yes. And it'll look amazing on you. But for someone who's more petite, it's not right. So I actually wear them all the time. But really the exaggerated ones? Not the overly exaggerated ones. But I do really find myself drawn towards blazers and jackets that have a little bit of a shoulder pad. Because I find that it gives me that little oomph, like a little bit of extra height. I can't do the big ones.

10:39I actually, my favorite RealRealBuy of all time was a Saint Laurent dress from maybe the 2018 runway. And it was that black kind of crepe long dress that went in at the waist, big gold buttons down the center.

10:51Julie Wainwright: Oh, I know exactly which one. Yes. And big shoulder pads. Yeah. You're talking my language. Yeah. I mean, that's why we're here. I know. We're here to speak the same language for a little bit. I know. But that was my best RealRealBuy of all time. I've worn it probably 30 times and I've only had it for two years. And that has quite an exaggerated shoulder pad. But I think because the rest of the dress is really form fitting and I'll put my hair in a bun, it can be really elegant. But I think you have to work with it. I agree with you. You really have to find the right shape shoulder pad for your body.

11:23Julie Wainwright: All right. So the good news with shoulder pads to make your hips look really little. Yes. That's the good news. And they do give you a cool line. Yes. But when you have an oversized jacket with big shoulder pads, I mean, I just get lost. So do I. Yeah. You could have two or three people in there. I've actually had a few friends buy shoulder pads on Amazon, like the different size ones, and just kind of get them either tailored into a dress or a jacket if they need like a little extra shape. And I'm not mad at that. I'm not mad at it. That's a lot of work, though. I mean, I would do it. Would you?

11:54Julie Wainwright: I'm always afraid. You know what? I love designers so much. I'm always afraid of ruining their line. Totally. And I'm talking about like more everyday pieces. A good example is like I had a Reformation jacket that I was I was in New Zealand over the holidays and it had big shoulder pads in it and it's linen and I paired it with a pair of linen pants the exact same color and I had it on and I was like I don't think the shoulder pads in the linen work. Like it just it felt and like antithetical almost in a way. And I literally cut them out. And then you get a nice, relaxed thing. It was great. Yeah.

12:28And sure, I have maybe some scissor cuts in the blazer, but no one's seeing that on the inside. And I'm wearing the blazer all the time now. It's funny. Yeah.

12:36Julie Wainwright: No, I get that. I think, I mean, my whole thing is if I go to the prime, if I buy, you know, in retail and they're like, well, we can alter it here and here and here. And because I'm, you know, I'm just not that big. Yeah. I'm like, no, because you're going to lose the line. I think I, you know, true. There's only so far you can really go with altering. And I get and I'm like, no, no, no, we have to try something else because this is beautiful by itself. Yeah. But once you do what you say you're going to do, it's going to be dramatically changes it and it's not worth it. Yeah. And I can get a little crazy sometimes with my tailoring.

13:12I think I brought in a real, real Armani blazer that I bought that was like a size eight and I'm a size zero. And I was like, oh, just tailor it down. And my tailor looked at me and was like, you're insane.

13:24Julie Wainwright: I'm not doing that. Oh, really? What'd you do with it? Resell it then? Yeah, I resold it. Yeah. You can only go so far. I know. So you mentioned in the beginning that you started The RealReal when you were 53. 52. 52. Yes. Okay, 52. And I know you had so many other ventures before that. Tell me what your way in was. Like starting The RealReal at 52, you probably had so many other experiences before that? Like, what was your way in? So I did. In fact, I was thinking about it today and I didn't really write about it that much in the book, but I joined a company in 1990. I want to say 1995 called Berkeley Systems and Berkeley Systems was flying toasters, but they became a gaming company.

14:09I joined as a VP and the company was failing.

14:13Julie Wainwright: And women quite often get opportunities when things are failing. They're basically like, let's throw a woman at it and see if they can fix it. Well, I did. I turned it around. We introduced this best-selling game called You Don't Know Jack. The founders sort of stepped way aside and didn't show up for a while and then came back in and wanted to sell the company. But we already got online with that. So the company sold and I was CEO. Then I got invited to interview for a job at a company called Real.com, R-E-E-L. Oh, wow. All right. and it was the first site to sell movies online. So this is 1997.

14:49Okay.

14:49Julie Wainwright: Could have been 1990, could have been 1998, but it was early. And Amazon started in 1997. So literally it was the beginning of e-commerce. Yeah. So did real.com and that sold, this is sort of a funny story. We ended up, again, the founder wanted to sell. I was the hired gun. I was the CEO. I think I got it up to around 40 million. Wow. The founder wanted to sell it and Hollywood Video, which if you don't know what it is, it's because they've been defunct since 2010, bought it to try to get rid of the internet. All right. Sorry to stop internet distribution of movies because they had a video store and they were a big competitor with Blockbuster.

15:31Julie Wainwright: Not as big, but a major competitor at the time. So then I got invited to interview for a company called Pets.com, which was being run in LA by some entrepreneur in his bedroom, in his condo, and it was out of control and he had venture capital funding. And they said he didn't want to be involved because I don't know what I'm doing. So they asked me to come in. A venture capital firm asked me to come in. I said yes. And I took that, got it up. I think again, it's all public wherever the record is, but another big number took it public very quickly and then shut it down because we couldn't get financing for the second round.

16:11And that we had this puppet, the pets.com puppet who became fairly

16:16Julie Wainwright: infamous. And so in the year 2000, 2001, we had to shut it down. And then I sort of became like the person who failed big. Right. But up until then, I had been a VP, had been, I'd started my career at Clorox in brand management. I went to a company called Software Publishing early on, which was 1983 in the personal computer industry. Ran international for them in my 20s, living in London, and then sort of had this wonderful progression of a career, then had a big fail and a big flip. And it, I mean, it was a big fail because everyone wrote about the dot-com bust. In fact, that was 25 years ago.

16:56Julie Wainwright: I actually spoke to a reporter last a couple of weeks ago. They were celebrating the 20th. They're writing about the 25 year dot com bust. And I'm like, and he said, what did we get wrong? I said, it was the beginning of the future. Yes. And pets dot com was the, you know, it's chewy dot com is the derivative of pets dot com. I'm sure there are so many of those, like so many things. Well, Webvan. Webvan, yeah. Webvan, which lost about a billion dollars failed, wasn't written about as much as pets.com. But still, that's the precursor to Instacart. Yeah. And even DoorDash, you know. Incredible. There had to be some, someone had to walk so we all could run or not go get our groceries.

17:38Julie Wainwright: I mean, that's the way startups work. Yes. You know, they sometimes they fail. Sometimes timing's everything. Sometimes you're too early. Yes. Sometimes you're not. But sadly, when pets failed, I also got a divorce. And literally, he asked me for a divorce when I was shutting the company down the same day. So then I sort of, I went through sort of a bad funk and multiple, I mean, it was really bad, and took multiple bad jobs. And I was really, when I look back at it, I was really letting that failure define me. And then, did you ever see Moonstruck? Yeah, of course. Do you know when Cher snaps, you know, Nicolas Cage and said, snap out of it.

18:17Julie Wainwright: So I had to do that to myself. I mean, I snapped myself out of it. One of the things I love most about fashion is that true luxury is often found in the smallest details. It's the weight of a beautiful fabric, the way a jacket is tailored, the click of a clasp, or how effortlessly a piece moves when you wear it. Lexis thinks about craftsmanship in a very similar way. At Lexus, master craftsmen called Takumi are involved not only in the physical craftsmanship of each vehicle, but in every sensory detail. They evaluate things like the way a door closes, the click of a switch, and the acoustic feedback of all the controls.

18:51And much like a designer knows when the cut, fabric, and finish of a piece feel exactly right, Takumi craftsmen rely on more than instruments alone. They use human perception and intuition to create an experience that sounds and feels right. That's what Lexus means by engineering to be felt. Understanding that the most powerful tool is knowing what will make someone feel something. Because a car that doesn't make you feel something is a car that stops short of amazing. So experience amazing at your Lexus dealer.

19:16Julie Wainwright: Today's episode is sponsored by Aerie. And because we spend so much time on this podcast talking about how to get dressed every day and how we feel our best, I have to share with you guys that a lot of the times that starts with what we're wearing underneath our clothes. For example, If your bra strap is digging into your shoulder, if it's riding up, or it doesn't feel like the right fit, it's probably not the right bra. And honestly, I feel like we've all accepted uncomfortable bras for way too long. Aerie's on a mission to make you feel good. And they actually have 59 different sizes of bras and different colors, fabrics, and fits.

19:48Because your bra should hold you in and not hold you back from all of the things that you need to do in a day. And something else that I really value about Aerie is that they have committed to real bodies only. In 2014, they stopped airbrushing. And in 2025, they have committed to no AI generated bodies. So it's always real people, real bodies, and 100 % Aerie real. Visit Aerie.com to find the right bra and your perfect fit. I always think about failure in this way that like humans are not afraid to fail, right? We're not afraid to mess up a recipe in the kitchen. We're not afraid to fail when no one's watching.

20:20But in a public way, I think everybody's afraid to fail. I like wonder for you, how did you turn that around?

20:27Julie Wainwright: Well, look, I mean, it wasn't just in a public way. The press really came after me. And of course, then I failed in my marriage. So that whether you can, I mean, that's how I viewed it at the time. I would say I really let it define me for a while. And once I stopped, I knew I stopped. And then I talked to a recruiter who told me no one's going to offer me a good job because I still had that big failure. I'm sure that guy's laughing now. I think he's retired. I think he's old. And anyway, that's when I said I've got to do something for myself. Yeah. But it was not, I wish I would have snapped myself out of it faster, but I didn't.

21:08Julie Wainwright: You can't go backwards. You can't go backwards. You hit the right timing. And then I did a map of what Amazon, I knew I wanted to get back into commerce. I love commerce. And I did a map of what Amazon was great at and what they weren't great at. and I had explored doing organic makeup doesn't exist not shelf stable I explored doing really more environmentally and human friendly any kinds of detergents and cleaning products because there was only one at that time seventh generation I thought no we can I kept thinking there could be a better one there's and I knew that world because of Clorox and then I also realized Amazon will never do luxury they don't understand the luxury market their site's not set up for it, but I wasn't going to do a luxury brand.

21:55Julie Wainwright: And that's where shopping became my aha moment. So I have a girlfriend I shop with regularly, and I bet you do too. So we go to one of her favorite boutiques down in Silicon Valley, right outside the Palo Alto shoe shop, just to look at shoes, beautiful shoes. But in the back, there was an area called the vault, which was all consignment and it was beautifully displayed. And that's where she spent her money. and she's a venture capitalist. What year was this? Oh, 2010. So 2010, venture capitalist. And she's like, we got out of there. I'm like, have you ever walked into a consignment store? She goes, no.

22:32I said, yeah. And I said, it was just that one store in the back that she would go to. Because it was beautifully displayed.

22:38Julie Wainwright: She trusted the owner. Yep. And I kept asking her questions. And then I said, that's it. That is the next company. Research the category. I had a name and I had 100K of financing and I was on a roll. So I'm like, well, I'm sort of doing it. So now I'm, you know, I'll let you know how it goes along. So that was the gen, that was my aha moment though. And I knew it. I went, yeah, I went through everything. I'm like, this is it. Yeah. I wonder for you, what was the experience like of building the formula of the RealReal? Because not only did you change the way that people shop in terms of sustainability in general and, you know, treasuring older pieces.

23:19But there are so many other things of the RealReal that really make sense. So, you know, having someone come to your house and help you clean out your closet, the 20-minute timer, like how did all of those things kind of fall into place for you and feel like a necessary part of your business?

23:33Julie Wainwright: So, look, I think consigning before the RealReal was really too hard. You'd have to make it, you'd have to like, I'm going to go to the store, I'm going to drop it off. You didn't know when you were going to get paid. brick and mortar stores don't have the same velocity or, you know, they have whoever shows up about if you're really lucky, 400 people would walk into your store in a week. Yeah. So it so we had to go to people's homes. And the other thing is we didn't take everything. So we really were focused on luxury. And I'm sure I'm sure anyone listening, if they're a real real customer, they got returns.

24:08Julie Wainwright: Returns are horrible. When you get a return, you're like, really, you didn't take that or really it was in bad condition. So in theory, if you have a really good sales associate who knows the brand, who understands quality and condition, they can work with you to be your advisor. And also what's selling now, what's hot, what you should hold on to, because maybe it's not selling this fast. But if you know, if you're in the mood to sell something and, you know, if you hold it for three months, you may get another season, it may move faster. So they should be advising people and then they should be helping to eliminate returns.

24:44Julie Wainwright: So from the beginning, we had a sales model like that for those reasons. You need making sure you pick up the right products, eliminate returns. And then we didn't have data at the beginning, but we knew we would. And then act as an advisor. So it's very personal. You know, when you if you work with someone, they're in your home, they can be really helpful to you. So that was that way. And the 20 minute thing on the cart was because people were hoarding and no one was buying. But I mean, our goal really, and then doing the sustainability calculators that came later, but our goal really was to just help people make the right decision as fast.

25:23Julie Wainwright: And also, this is the other thing that's really important. We wanted to price the product so it moved in 90 days. And the reason it needed to move in 90 days is we didn't want to build huge warehouses. And the other thing is, if it's not moving, especially when you have millions of people looking at the site, then the price isn't right. Right. So the goal was to move 90 % of the product in 90 days. And I think they're still pretty close to that. I left there two years. If not, they're on average, they're probably in the high 80s. Yeah. Because that way, you know, you've hit the right price. Right.

25:57Julie Wainwright: You have all these eyeballs sitting there. Some things I've sold, moved the first second. You're like, was that price too low? but you know you also can get lucky and have that customer look at it right away. Did you have a hard time convincing people to buy consignment on a large scale? Like at that time it wasn't as popular as it is now. No no and I'll tell you what we did which I think is really important and and I hope they stick to this. I know they're testing a lot of things but I called it, we wanted to keep the romance of the brand alive. So we've always been more fashion-y. Yes. And we've always talked about how making, we really wanted to make it cool and wearable.

26:44Julie Wainwright: And even though we have mannequins that we shot on, we tested on people and people, it didn't work for some, I can tell you good people stories. I mean, it comes down to when we tried real people. Right now you can use an AI generated person and maybe they're going to test that again. But when we started, we had real people. And by the way, there's a lot of money spent to real fashion shoots. So when you see the shoots, we've always done. Yeah. But when you have like real people, we'd get complaints. Oh, you know, that person's emaciated or they that that or I wouldn't wear it that way or why.

27:18Julie Wainwright: All right. So that was a problem. And then the second thing is real people need food and they destroy things. Right. Well, if we destroyed someone, we own it then. Yes. So then we had to, you know, pay for things. Right. And, you know, the liability of it all was just too high. It's too much. Yeah. And and a lot of complaints. I mean, you know, people wanted to see themselves represented in the clothing. But, you know, we did try real people, AI people, maybe maybe they'll move to that now. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. But then then And it's not a real person. So you don't know what's going to fit in your body anyway.

27:52I've actually seen some like Instagram ads where it's on AI people. And I, it automatically as a consumer makes me not trust the brand. Because I think for me, AI obviously is not real. So my, my like gut immediately doesn't like it. Yeah. I'm not drawn towards it. I'm not like, oh, that.

28:11Julie Wainwright: No, I understand that. No, I understand it. And it won't show how it lays on a good person. Right. But I can say the real, real fashion shoots are done with real people on there. Right. You know, we put a lot of money toward it. Those I love. Well, I always, I mean, I always think, and the thing is, it's not vintage, but resale is cool. You know, I had a stat and I actually gave a talk in Madison, Wisconsin to the students there. They wanted to talk about sustainability and I wanted to talk about microplastics because all of our oceans have microplastics in it. And scientists have now traced back the sources.

28:48Julie Wainwright: 35 % of the microplastics in the ocean is due to fast fashion. Wow. That's a huge percentage. They said fast fashion. And that's because mostly it's polyester. And polyester is plastic. Right. And we do not want plastic in our brains. Yeah. Yes. What brand do you think is on the ascent right now that is like a must have on the real real? Oh, gosh, I don't have the numbers now. I can just tell you what I love. Go for it. But it all may change, obviously. But I became sort of a Loewe person only because it was interesting. I could still wear it, but it was a little offbeat. I would imagine it's still a high seller on the RealReal.

29:32Julie Wainwright: Like I said, I don't have the data. You know, honestly, I'm sure like Louis Vuitton still is. I'm sure Hermes is. I'm sure Chanel is. I'm sure Gucci's fallen a little bit. but maybe a lot, but it's still up there because the luxury brands are still coveted. I'm sure Cartier is still up there. All of those things happen on a regular basis. But I thought Bottega did some really interesting things, but it never fit me. So I couldn't really wear a Bottega, but I loved looking at it. I love the way they work the weaving even into the boots and the shoes. I love it. You know who goes in and out where I get really excited is Fendi.

30:09Julie Wainwright: Yeah. I know that sounds, but I mean, a good Fendi bag. A good Fendi. Oh. Fendi Ready to Wear is one of my favorites. Oh, that's funny. I love Fendi Ready to Wear. I wear it a lot. I love their knits too. Yeah. One that I'm searching for a lot right now is Drees. I love Drees, but you know, the designer's changing. I went on a Drees buying pattern. Yeah. Love Drees. Yeah. I think with their sneaker right now, they're really making a comeback and also making a very concerted effort to attract a next generation, younger consumer. and I find my, I've always loved Drees. Drees was when I was in college, my North Star.

30:43And now I find myself shopping it again, looking it up on the RealReal. And I think, I think there's one piece I want to buy. It's like this gorgeous suede Navy dress.

30:52Julie Wainwright: All right. It's in my cart, but obviously not because it's been 20 minutes. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I think authentication across the fashion industry is a very hot topic. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on it as like the real world has had commentary about that. I mean, at this point, I think every retailer, whether you're secondhand, thrift shop, whatever, I think that conversation always comes up. What do you think about it? I think it's really critical. We set that up at the beginning. And now, all right, so think, remember those numbers I told you. So think of like 7 million to 9 million products being processed.

31:27Julie Wainwright: Every product's photographed. But let me just take a step back. There are patterns that you can identify on a consigner level for a consigner who also is most likely giving you fraudulent goods. Right. So when things come into the real rail and there's just tons of white bags, the consigner, if they're put down the swim lane that says extra time with this one, it means they have all the hallmarks of our past. Now they may be fine, but on a machine learning basis they have a look like that the other ones that actually have given this fraudulent goods right and then everything's our first pass most of it most of it is being done especially for handbags clothing's a different thing through picture identification and then humans need to get involved and that's where you develop all this deep expertise right so it's huge now fine jewelry and watches the real real when i was there had the most gemologists in the world in fact the space that we had for evaluating it was bigger than our second warehouse it was over 30 ,000 square feet oh my god wow and there's one here there's might be more than one but there's gemologists are spread all over but there was one in Perth Amboy one in Secaucus and then one in Scottsdale when I was there huge full of people training and retraining but when you have all of that product coming through.

32:53You have a set of data that you know what a false positive

32:57Julie Wainwright: or a fake one looks like because of historical. That doesn't mean they're, I mean, look, people that counterfeit evolve so quickly and they're pretty evil. I tell a story of when someone sent thugs to my house. So yeah, because we wouldn't give them back the goods. So it's in the book. It was a terrifying moment. Wow. At night beating on my door and I, that night I happened to be home alone. And it was terrifying. No, it was terrifying. Good book moment. Good book moment. Terrifying story. But counterfeits, counterfeiters evolved quite a bit. Yeah. And here's the interesting thing. Right around Christmas, at least at the RealReal, let's say late October, it's almost like the counterfeiter ships that come in.

33:38Julie Wainwright: Okay. And you start seeing repeats. It's like, okay, we got another one of these fake ones. We got another one of these. So you know exactly when you have a system at this point. Well, no, there's a huge system up front, which is now really sophisticated. That's unparalleled just because of the quantity. Of course. A product that comes in and the years the company's been operating. So it's unparalleled, but you always, they're so, they're so evil. I mean, you have people taking apart Birkin bags. So you have like one thing on it that's authentic and, you know, another thing. Oh, yes. I mean, these guys just keep doing it.

34:12Julie Wainwright: They're pros. Can I tell you one story though, which is pretty funny with a socialite. I'm not going to tell you. It's from a town in California. Much photographed person and wears Chanel a lot. The thing is, she doesn't wear real Chanel. She wore fake Chanel. She would get a piece, have her seamstress look at it, copy it, return the piece. Wow. And so she had fake Chanel, a lot of it. And she wanted to consign it from the real realm. We're like, and some of them, she had real buttons, by the way. And we're like this. And I mean, like hundreds of thousands of dollars if it was real. Yeah. Of resale value.

34:53Julie Wainwright: So we had to know. Normally we would have actually called the police on her. Yeah. Because that's the standard practice. We just said we cannot authenticate this. Give us the receipts. Well, they didn't have receipts. Oh, they were button. You're blah, blah, blah. And I said, look, we can't authenticate these. I'm sorry. You're going to, we're going to give you a pass on this first. And it was already like a couple hundred thousand. We're going to give you a pass, but we're not going to take this as consignment. If you do this again with us, we will confiscate all the goods. All right. Because that's what the company does.

35:25Julie Wainwright: Right. So they hired a lawyer and we're like, fine, bring the lawyer. Well, then they didn't, then they dropped it because Because it's fake. Because it was fake. Fast forward a year later, and the consignors blacklisted, right? Wow. So then that just automatically blacklisted. So they come back and they said, look, she buys real things now. And it's like, we don't believe you. You're blacklisted. And they tried to come back two more times. It's like, no, sorry. We're not ever going to believe you. You should be lucky we did not call the police on you. So, you know. So shout out to that seamstress making fake Chanel.

36:03Love that for her. Really? I just mean like, wow, you have to be really talented to wear something that looks like Chanel.

36:10Julie Wainwright: Oh, it was good. They were good. They were good copies. Yeah. In fact, whenever we get a really good copy of something, it became a teaching moment and the authenticators would get so excited. They're like, look how good this copy is. But it's still fake. Good experience. One of the things I love most about fashion is that true luxury is often found in the smallest details. It's the weight of a beautiful fabric, the way a jacket is tailored, the click of a clasp, or how effortlessly a piece moves when you wear it. Lexus thinks about craftsmanship in a very similar way. At Lexus, master craftsmen called Takumi are involved not only in the physical craftsmanship of each vehicle, but in every sensory detail.

36:49They evaluate things like the way a door closes, the click of a switch, and the acoustic feedback of all the controls. And much like a designer knows when the cut, fabric, and finish of a piece feel exactly right, Takumi craftsmen rely on more than instruments alone. They use human perception and intuition to create an experience that sounds and feels right. That's what Lexus means by engineering to be felt. Understanding that the most powerful tool is knowing what will make someone feel something. Because a car that doesn't make you feel something is a car that's short of amazing. So experience amazing at your Lexus dealer.

37:20Julie Wainwright: What's your favorite thing you've ever gotten on the RealReal? I would say, you know what? I'm probably wearing it. I would say my Cartier jewelry. Yeah. I also have a beautiful, I mean, honestly, I love it. I still have handbags, you know, I have a Bottega handbag. I still have handbags that I'm not going to, I have a couple puzzle bags that I got in the RealReal. I have a Neverfull I got in the Real bag. It's a good bag. They came back this year, last year too. I love, love the Neverfull. I've got some Louis Vuitton duffels that I love. That would, that's always been like on my wishlist for a RealReal buy, like a Louis Vuitton duffel that I can just travel with.

37:55Julie Wainwright: They're so gorgeous. And I got a couple of the specialty ones, you know, where they're like, they've done the flowers over it or something. I, if I think it has to go anywhere away from my body, you know, it can't be in the overhead. I will never travel with those except in my car because I don't want it damaged. It's too gorgeous. They're beautiful. You really changed the game for fashion, but also female entrepreneurs. Where do you think there is room right now? Or if there's a specific division, that you think is like ripe for innovation for maybe a female entrepreneur? Oh gosh, you know what?

38:27Julie Wainwright: First of all, can we just talk about some other females that have done amazing things? And they're obvious. So look, when I did the RealReal, consignment had been there forever, but I re-envisioned it. So in fact, I did create a new category. But let's talk about Anastasia Sori, who did the eyebrows, who does. Love, iconic. All right, but eyebrow products have been out there forever. Yeah, she really, she made eyebrows important. She built a category around eyebrows. And she was right. That's the other thing. She was right. So here she builds this billion dollar business from something. You know how many eyebrow products were out there?

39:04Julie Wainwright: Every major makeup line had them. I think about me walking into CVS. There's like a thousand. And yet she made a business out of it. All right, let's go back to the OG, Martha Stewart. Entertaining. Yeah. She's like, oh, this is a category. I know how to make. It's incredibly aspirational. I can make that accessible for people. So there are those categories waiting around for people to make a huge business. And I would say, look at the, depends what you want to do. If you want to create something big, look at the opportunities. You have a new platform. Now you have AI. All right, so let me, and I'm going to talk about my AI wishlist, which is actually technically not hard.

39:46Julie Wainwright: You're a repeat customer, right? Of the real realm, but you're probably a repeat customer of other places online. And so online as a repeat customer, your most important customers are your repeat customers. You should be able to say into your computer or your phone, look, I'm looking for a player of black boots. Can you, can you get a dressing room ready for me? And they should understand, like I never wear low heels. They should understand. And I can say, you know, they can show me every black boot they have. Yep. And then just to get my interest like, oh, and we threw a few of these on, but it should be my size based on my preferences.

40:22Julie Wainwright: There should be none of that filtering at all. I should just have a dressing room. And if they're and the AI, I've been shopping at multiple. I shop at probably six different department stores and then boutiques up a little wider than that. But online, six different places. And then if they're really smart, they also know what my because I tend to wear similar things. I don't tend to wear that big of oversized things. Then they can say, here are some few things that will complement it. Yeah. And we noticed that you like this type of jewelry. Here are some things that will complement it. But it should be my dressing room set up and I'm looking for.

40:57Julie Wainwright: Yes. And they should say, welcome back, Julie. Here's your room. Right now, I'll give you one of my pet peeves. Let's say, and I told you already, I love Dolce suits. Yeah. But you know, there's only a few that I love. And I love Alexander McQueen. I'm looking online. I don't want to buy it online. I know it's going to need some alterations. Also, I don't want those massive shoulder pads. I'll go with the little shoulder pads. I would love to be able to call the store and say, do you have this? I'm looking at it. Yep. And so I do call the store and none of them have them in the store. Yep. All right.

41:30Julie Wainwright: They're like, well, we can have you can have it shipped your house. I don't want it shipped to my house. I want to have a shopping experience. Well, it'll take three or four days. And I'm like, yeah, OK. OK, fine. You know, but I don't even know. And I hate the ones that say, oh, do you want to buy it? And then we can always return. I'm like, no, I want you to have it in the store because it's online. Now, is this feasible? Of course it is. They know exactly what's in the Soho store because it's not that hard. And you can filter by store. And when it sells in the store, it automatically shows a sold online.

42:03Julie Wainwright: That is table stakes. And the fact that you can't look at a boot, like a website and then find it in the boutique of the same brand is ridiculous. Crazy. I agree with you completely. I love how passionate you are about the industry and innovations. And I wonder for you, having gone through so many different iterations of your work life, what advice do you have for someone who maybe is in their 20s and 30s and just hasn't found their thing yet? Number one, be careful of who you surround yourself with. Your people around you do matter. All right. So that matters. So you really want to be around people that are energizing.

42:39Julie Wainwright: Find your creative. So find your creative people, whether it's creative and I don't care what it is. Find your people. Number one. Number two. So it's all about the people around you. And then I wrote, but it's all about you. So the other thing is when you have an idea, you have to treat it as precious. But ideas aren't anything until you put it into action. But still treat it as precious. If you want to be an entrepreneur, the key is take that idea, Test it. Understand you don't want to waste your time on something that doesn't have a big potential or has a competitor. Make sure it's salient.

43:13Julie Wainwright: But then execute as fast as you can. Because the other thing is, if you have that idea, it's probably in the ether somewhere. Someone else is going to do it too. And how you execute is the difference. So I would say it's all about your team, your expanded team. And then it's all about you. Don't listen to the naysayers. So many people will tell you no. And then lastly, I would say you got to play the long game. So it's so important because you're going to have, you know, the old chutes and ladders. And, you know, in England, they say swings and roundabouts. And you will, you know, things will go well.

43:47Julie Wainwright: Things won't go well. But I'm actually giving a lesson that I didn't actually follow myself until I did, which is every failure is a learning opportunity. Everything that comes at you is something that will add to you. it won't subtract from you at all. And if you look at it that way, it changes your perspective. So play the long game. But those are sort of your magic formula. You know, great people around you believe in yourself. It's like all about your team. It's all about you. And then play the long game. Thank you so much for being here. Your book is coming out in six weeks. Six weeks. Time to get real.

44:27Time to get real. I'm so excited for you. And I've just started it. I can't wait to finish it. You brought me another copy today, which I can't wait. But where can we find the book? When? What date is it out?

44:36Julie Wainwright: Amazon. It's out June 9th. Amazon. Barnes & Noble is running the special. So Barnes & Noble. And then it will be in brick and mortar stores too. Incredible.

45:01Thank you.