What luxury resale
actually costs.
Everyone quotes discounts off retail. Almost nobody publishes what designer clothing actually sold for. The figures below come from 437 pieces that sold through Merino's archive — real transaction prices, not asking prices, with a median discount of 80% off estimated retail. These are the numbers behind the designer sale prices on the rest of the site.
Three ways a secondhand price gets set
The channel a piece is listed through matters more than the brand on the label.
| Consignment | Open marketplace | Aggregator | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who holds the item | The platform | The seller | The seller |
| Who sets the price | The platform | The seller | The seller |
| Typical price level | Closest to retail | Lowest | Lowest |
| Selection quality | Curated | Unsorted | Curated |
| Authentication | Usually included | Buyer's responsibility | Buyer's responsibility |
A consignment platform takes physical possession, photographs and authenticates the piece, and prices it to cover that work plus its own margin — which is why consignment listings sit closest to retail. An open marketplace has none of those costs, so prices are set by individual sellers who mostly want the item gone. The trade-off is that the good pieces are buried under thousands that aren't. An aggregator like Merino reads the marketplace continuously and surfaces only the listings where price and quality have come apart, which is marketplace pricing without the sorting.
What each house actually sells for
Median sold price against median estimated retail. Brands with at least 8 recorded sales.
| Brand | Median sold | Est. retail | % off | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ermenegildo Zegna | $85 | $1,800 | 95% | 8 |
| Akris | $99 | $1,495 | 93% | 10 |
| Loro Piana | $185 | $1,200 | 89% | 53 |
| Max Mara | $100 | $895 | 89% | 15 |
| Brunello Cucinelli | $199 | $1,400 | 87% | 30 |
| Brooks Brothers | $135 | $800 | 83% | 8 |
| Burberry | $150 | $895 | 83% | 20 |
| The Row | $128 | $850 | 82% | 32 |
| Vince | $61 | $325 | 80% | 15 |
| White + Warren | $55 | $295 | 80% | 13 |
| Jenni Kayne | $60 | $295 | 75% | 40 |
| Eileen Fisher | $42 | $178 | 75% | 14 |
| Khaite | $325 | $980 | 73% | 8 |
| Barbour | $130 | $425 | 67% | 29 |
| Polo Ralph Lauren | $90 | $225 | 62% | 19 |
| Doén | $75 | $178 | 61% | 21 |
Retail figures are AI-generated estimates, not manufacturer list prices, and sample sizes at the small end are thin — treat any row under about 15 sales as directional. Sold prices are what buyers actually paid.
Which houses the market underprices
The pattern in the table above is not about quality. It is about name recognition. The same gap is what makes a designer sale on the secondhand market run deeper than any retail markdown — you are buying the discount on the name, not on the garment.
Which categories discount hardest
Tailoring falls furthest. Casual outerwear holds its value best.
| Category | Median sold | % off | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's blazers | $90 | 93% | 34 |
| Women's blazers | $86 | 92% | 23 |
| Women's dresses | $97 | 83% | 38 |
| Women's coats | $131 | 83% | 38 |
| Men's coats | $162 | 81% | 33 |
| Women's sweaters | $90 | 81% | 101 |
| Men's sweaters | $180 | 79% | 47 |
| Women's tops | $55 | 73% | 76 |
| Chore coats | $119 | 64% | 47 |
Tailoring discounts hardest because fewer buyers can fit it confidently secondhand and because the market for structured suiting has thinned. That makes a canvassed blazer the single best value in luxury resale — and the hardest to buy without checking measurements first. Our size guide covers the IT and EU conversions most of these pieces carry, and every category in the table above is live right now on the designer sale page, sorted by how far each piece sits below retail.