Dive Brief:

• Dallas-based department store Neiman Marcus and web luxury consignment retailer The RealReal have teamed up, The Dallas Morning News reports.

• Shoppers can consign their high-end used clothing (The RealReal is picky about what it will list, sticking to upscale brands like Chanel and Prada) in return for Neiman Marcus gift cards when it sells.

• The RealReal reported $100 million in revenue in 2014 and says that will will double in 2015. Unlike eBay and other marketplaces, The RealReal checks the authenticity of items before they’re listed, and, like Twice, the web-based consignment retailer recently acquired by eBay, offers a valet service.

Dive Insight:

While the resale market will be but a niche area for Neiman Marcus, this is the kind of creativity that a department store retailer needs these days. The match is nearly perfect: The RealReal is an upscale consignment retailer, so this partnership won’t ding Neiman Marcus’ own upscale brand. And The RealReal has shown that even those who can afford luxury clothes and accessories would like to get something in return for them once they’re ready to cast them off.

And consignment in general is usually a win-win: It’s cheaper for The RealReal to acquire these nice things second-hand than it is for Neiman Marcus to get them when they’re new; but second-hand they’re also quite a bit cheaper for the consumer. And the discount from buying a good-quality used luxury item, for some people, beats the discount from buying inferior goods found at outlet stores. It’s the formula for the success of second-hand apparel retailer 2nd Time Around. 

“After seeing the increased demand for this service since its pilot program launched in February, we recognized the benefit of offering the service to our customers across the country,” Wanda Gierhart, chief marketing officer at Neiman Marcus, told the Dallas Morning News.