Luanne Gaby echoes this. For her, a trip to Paris and a stop at Chanel on the Rue Cambon was a nightmare, full of jostling tourists. As luck would have it, when she returned to South Africa she spied the Chanel pants she was after in The Changing Room email and went to the store the next day to pick them up. It was a painless experience, and — at a 40% discount — pretty profitable, too.
“When I started The Changing Room five years ago, I saw there was nothing else like it in South Africa,” she says. “Yes, we have the bricks and mortar store in Cavendish, but it’s the online presence that really sets us apart.” The site, set up in the Net-A-Porter template, is updated daily, and weekly emails and Insta-stories highlight new arrivals. “Online allows customers from all over the country to buy and gives us authority for those looking to sell,” Tamaris says.
“Some of our stock comes from women who are moving overseas, or clearing out their cupboard — no longer are they handing on bags or coats to friends and family, when they’ve realised there’s a secondary market.” Calitz says there hasn’t been an increase in “clear outs”. “The very rich are not affected by the economy,” he says. “They buy what they want and will continue to do so. A case in point — in December we posted a baby-blue 32 Hermes Birkin on Instagram and the next morning a woman came in and swiped R180 000 on her card for it.”