What was the catalyst for launching Galore.club?
Galore.club evolved from my own lived experience as a seller and buyer of pre-loved luxury items. I found that there was constant back and forth to confirm whether an item was ‘real’.
I simply wanted an ‘Autotrader for luxury goods’ to solve this and that’s what I set out to build – a digital passport for luxury goods to make the purchasing and selling of luxury goods as transparent and with as much as ease as possible i.e. just if you were buying a secondhand car.
There was a clear market demand for solutions addressing transparency and traceability in luxury asset trading, driven by concerns over authenticity, trust and data issues.
As we know, fashion has a huge transparency issue across the supply chain and in the last few years we have finally seen real-action here from consumers but also legislation as we’ve seen with the EU call for all goods to have digital product passports. The emergence of digital product passports supported by the EU legislation presented me with an opportunity to revolutionise the authentication process for luxury items, offering a scalable solution to improve the trade of luxury assets and making data accessible to all through blockchain technology.
Tell me about the business – what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?
Quite simply, galore.club is a fashion tech company that focuses on transparency and traceability of luxury goods by consolidating data into one single source to provide end-to-end insight into a product through the use of NFC tags and Blockchain (creating a digital twin). We are the “autotrader for luxury assets”.
We work with both consumers who are purchasing or selling and leading luxury goods businesses that are looking to:
- Provide their customers with a transparent experience
- Engage with the pre-loved / rental conversation
- Monitoring of the product value over time
How has the business evolved since its launch? When was this?
Since launching, we have done a lot of work to understand the purchasing decisions people make when investing in a high tick luxury item.
What’s really interesting is how people understand these items as an appreciating assets… just as they would if they were purchasing a property, for example. Questions such as ‘How much could I rent this out for?’, ‘What did it sell for 3 years ago?’.We’ve evolved galore.club to engage with this understanding of luxury goods and build our product to better communicate the item’s value.
In addition, from the B2B side, we’ve learnt how much businesses are keen to understand their customer journey with their items post purchase and to have a share of their pre-loved market. We recognised that this data is key for brands and thus have integrated this into our B2B Dashboard product for business owners.
Tell us about the working culture at Galore
In the world of startups, you can be pulled in so many directions, especially in the early days so it is important to stay focused. We are big believers in ‘done is better than perfect’ to ensure we are constantly executing and learning. They understand and resonate with the purpose and goals set by the company.
We established the culture within the Firm very early on and are ruled by two simple principles that help to keep up us focused:
- Believe in the vision
- Execute
How are you funded?
So far we have been bootstrapped. We are now in the process of wrapping up our Pre Seed Round and excited to already have some great investors/ family offices on board, and we are excited to meet more!
What has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome this?
Putting myself out there as the face of the business when it comes to raising.
Throughout my career I have worked in private banking and asset management at large leading organisations so although I have no shortage of expertise on the financial side, representing the business has been something I’ve learnt.
I truly believe that galore.club is needed and that I know the product but importantly the amazing team I’ve built is second to none to lead this forward.
How does Galore answer an unmet need?
Currently, there is no system to validate a pre-loved item, or get insight into the journey of the asset. Let’s say you’re on Depop or Vestiaire and looking to purchase a pre-loved / vintage designer handbag, you either have to pay for an expert to validate or just trust the seller and hope for the best.
We’re here to change that and make it the norm to know the data trail of an item every time you purchase.
What’s in store for the future?
We have some really exciting B2B partnerships launching at the end of the year which we can’t wait to share more about.
Our big focus at the moment is expanding the team to further build our suite of products for both consumers and businesses.
What one piece of advice would you give other founders or future founders?
- Always have advisors who are industry experts and focused on making a company profitable as fast as possible
- Be strategic, if one door closes look for another door to open
- Solution-driven
- Ensure your product fits the market
- Be Resourceful
- Be Obsessed
I live by a simple rule of knowing when to stop and pivot, reflect and always ask for feedback
And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?
Visualisation and High frequency music. As we know, running a startup is so fast paced, so high frequency music helps me to mentally slow down which in turn helps me to think clearly and strategically in all aspects of my life.
Visualisation is such a powerful concept, to tunnel vision and see things that have not happened yet but you already see how it all plays out – almost like a fortune teller!
Elizabeth Anjorin is the Founder of Galore.club.