A fashion resale business which appeared on Dragons’ Den and won investment from Steven Bartlett before being forced to close down six months ago has now been acquired.
Luxe Collective was founded by Ben and Joe Gallagher in 2018 from their parents鈥� bedroom on Merseyside. It sourced pre-owned designer items through sites like eBay and Depop, refurbished them, and sold them via social media channels.
By early 2024, the business had claimed 拢30 million in total sales revenue. After building a following of millions and attracting over a billion video views on Dragons鈥� Den, it secured a viral 拢100,000 investment from Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett, who took a 3% stake in the business.
However, after a devastating warehouse burglary in July 2024 in which around 拢500,000 worth of stock was stolen, the company struggled to recover and it closed down operations.聽
Now Luxe Collective鈥檚 intellectual property, customer database and social media channels have been acquired by US luxury resale platform Fashionphile, which enters the UK market with the deal.
The business has relaunched as Fashionphile UK, with Ben and Joe Gallagher聽joining the new company as director of brand marketing and director of operations respectively.
It will initially operate via LuxeCollectiveFashion.com before expanding with a flagship authentication centre and store in London.聽
Announcing Luxe Collective’s closure in May 2025, Ben described the decision as 鈥渢he hardest of my life鈥�.
鈥淚 quit the business I spent seven years building with my brother,鈥� he said.聽
鈥淒uring the process, we felt like we鈥檇 let people down and didn鈥檛 feel worthy of the community or platform we had built. But when we announced we were closing, the support was unbelievable.聽
鈥淭he comments, messages and people stopping me in the street were overwhelming. After a brutal 12 months, we had forgotten what we鈥檇 achieved, built and the people we鈥檇 helped and inspired.鈥�
Although the break-in was a turning point, Ben has since acknowledged that leadership and operational decisions also played a role.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to say the robbery was the only reason we failed, but that鈥檚 not entirely true,鈥� he said at the time.
Six years earlier, while still building Luxe Collective, Ben had discovered Fashionphile – a US company doing what they were attempting but 鈥渙n a massive scale鈥�.
He continued: 鈥淭hey鈥檇 been around 20 years, founded by a woman and her brother-in-law, and doing $500m in revenue.
鈥淲e copied everything – photos, inventory, processes, payments – we even mentioned them in our Dragons鈥� Den pitch.鈥�
Gallagher has previously reached out to founders Sarah Davis and Ben Hemminger whilst on a trip to New York.聽
鈥淪he replied the same day,鈥� he said.聽
鈥淗ours later we were in her office and she was openly sharing all her secrets with us.聽
鈥淎 few weeks after closing my business, I reached out to see if she wanted to buy any assets.
鈥淥nce again she replied immediately, we jumped on a call, and she proposed a plan on the spot.
鈥淲eeks later we flew to NYC to meet the team.聽
鈥淢e & Joe were hesitant at first, tbh we were done with this industry & wanted to wipe our hands with it.
鈥淏ut Sarah & Ben’s passion, ambition and excitement they had around us, inspired us to join their team.
鈥淭hey made us see the vision – there was no way we could say no.聽
鈥淎 full-circle moment鈥� The boys are back in town – and open for business.鈥�
Founded in 1999, Fashionphile is the largest resale platform for ultra-luxury accessories in the United States, working with brands such as Chanel, Herm猫s, Gucci and Louis Vuitton.聽
The company operates physical locations in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Philadelphia and San Diego, and became the exclusive re-commerce partner of Neiman Marcus in 2019.