When Jade Maclaren first started buying and selling her own designer handbags she had no idea it would turn in to a business with more than £1million turnover.
The 33-year-old started Addicted to Handbags in 2015 following the completion of her chartered accounting and tax qualifications.
But last year she made the decision to quit her job at Johnston & Carmichael and concentrate full-time on her business.
It’s one that’s paid off with her turnover rising from £80,000 three years ago to now £1.2million for the last financial year.
Range of designer labels
Her own personal luxury handbag addiction began when she bought her first Mulberry Bayswater.
From there her passion began to grow and she started to buy and sell pre-loved Mulberry handbags – initially selling via Ebay and subsequently on social media.
Ms Maclaren said: “I started doing the handbag business on the side and it was quite low key.
“My yearly income ranged between £10- £30k so I thought the bags would be some additional income.
“I was just buying and selling my own bags. But then I started thinking I could actually make a bit of money here.
“I then did it a little bit more but not the to the scale I’m at now.
“It was when Covid started that people weren’t going out of the house but they were spending their money on handbags.
“I guess they weren’t spending their money on anything else.
“I started selling other brands in addition to just Mulberry and the demand took off then.”
Passion for fashion
Ms Maclaren now stocks Mulberry, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel & YSL as her main designer brands as well as Hermes, Chloe, Burberry and Balenciaga occasionally.
It was a Hermes Kelly 28 handbag that was her most expensive ever sold – selling at £12,000.
Her stock comes from buying the pre-loved designer bags from people and then selling them on through her website.
Ms Maclaren either purchases the item outright from you and provides a quote for a cash sale, or offer a consignment basis for items valued at over £500 at 10-25% commission subject to item and value.
Ms Maclaren said: “My passion for handbags began in my early 20s. I never grew up with it. My mum is not really into that kind of thing.
“My twin sister had been in to handbags and her obsession started before mine.
“She got me into them and from them I haven’t looked back.
“I realised there was a gap in the market. I enjoyed it and had an eye for it obviously.
“It grew from there and because I’ve been doing it for years now I’ve got a good reputation within the selling groups.”
Range of prices
Addicted to Handbags also sells keyrings and wallets ranging from £100 to £300.
With bags ranging from £200 up to £4,000 for Chanel.
Bestsellers include the Gucci Soho Disco and Louis Vuitton Neverfull with the Gucci bag normally selling out within three minutes of hitting the website.
The average price point for the handbags is about £600 to £1,000.
Ms Maclaren said: “Sales have been good.
“But I’ve seen a dip since Covid. During Covid people weren’t spending their money on anything else really.
“But since people have started to go out again and on holiday sales aren’t at the level they were before.
“A lot of my bags are actually priced a lot lower than some of my competitors.
“Other businesses have huge staff, store and overheads.
“But I just work from home and I have storage costs but it still means I can keep the prices of things quite low in comparision.”
Conversation