But what exactly is the demand for luxury brands in Norway?

Earlier this autumn, advertisements appeared in various magazines in which Auksjonshuset Blomqvist was searching for luxury brands. It is a big step away from previous searches which were mainly for Munch paintings, and it's not just classic luxury brands like Chanel or Hermès. IT brands such as Bottega Veneta and Celine are also very welcome features.

- There is great interest in vintage both in Norway and internationally. Here at home, this category has just taken root and it has probably come to stay. It probably feels safer for Norwegians to buy used, says Irina Khótko to Melk & Honning.

She is an expert in the vintage & fashion category at Auksjonshuset Blomqvist.

However, luxury brands are nothing new for the Oslo-based auction house. Khótko explains that they have had fashion as a category since 2010.

Blomqvist demands luxury brands such as Chanel

- It happened in the last three years, during which we have sharpened the category with us by selling only the most exclusive brands and marketed more around this, that both sellers and buyers have shown great interest in this category with us, she continues.

- We are sure that this category is here to stay.

What brands do you hope people have lying in the attic?

- If someone should be lucky enough to find an older Gucci or Hermès bag, then the probability is high that they may have found something valuable.

- We are always looking for high quality vintage and archive fashion objects for our auctions. For our daily online auctions and theme auctions, we are especially looking for bags, scarves, shoes and fine jewelry from many famous fashion houses such as Hermès, Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Bottega Veneta, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, Céline and Mulberry. We have sharpened the category of the luxury brands we sell the most and are pretty sure that this category will grow.

Irina Khótko

How do other players in the second-hand market think the demand for luxury brands has developed?

At Finn.no, it is Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Mulberry that are most sought after, if you look at brands in general.

If you compare the figures for the last three years, however, there is a decrease in the number of searches. But the figures for November and December are still missing for this year, the player points out.

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Could the corona pandemic be to blame?

- Much of this can probably be explained with corona, yes. Some of these brands are bought by a strong target group who in large parts of 2020 and 2021 were working from home, and therefore had less of a need for luxury goods, says Kathrine Opshaug Bakke, second-hand market expert and head of Finn Torget to Melk.

Comparing the development between 2019 and 2021 is therefore not entirely representative, according to her.

- Some variation in how popular a brand is in that particular year must also be expected, but it is quite true that searches for these luxury brands have had a downward trend. There were a number of reports last year that indicated that it was expected that luxury brands would lose a lot over the corona pandemic. This may be part of the explanation, she continues.

Kathrine Opshaug Bakke in Finn about the demand for luxury brands

Is this also related to the fact that other players have come on the field, such as Tise?

- I would expect that Tise's searches for the same brands will have increased in the same period, but then one must also keep in mind that Tise has grown a lot in the same period, and has contributed to expanding the second-hand market. So some of our decline could be explained by the fact that there are now more places than just FIND where it is natural to search for these things.

- If you zoom in on the sub-category of women's clothing, you also see that both Bergans and Norrøna entered the Top 10 in 2020, which is well connected with the trends we saw increase in connection with the corona. Like this focus on the outdoors - and maybe a little less luxury.

Bergans

What do you think about Blomqvist now seeking more luxury fashion?

- We at FINN cheer on reuse and think it is great that larger and larger percentages of the population are using marketplaces such as FINN, Tise or Blomqvist to sell and buy used things.

- Among vintage luxury brands, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, Moncler and Gucci are among the best-selling with us, says Sigrun Stenseth, head of marketing at Tise Norge to Melk.

A selection of the most popular fashion brands at Tise are Nike, H&M, Levis and Ganni, according to Stenseth.

- In general, we see a higher demand in the middle class with brands such as Ganni, Holzweiler and Acne rather than after the classic high-end brands. The high-end marks are applied on about 1/4 of the times as often as the marks in the middle layer.