Shop Poshmark Like a Bergdorf Goodman Buyer

Poshmark's Elizabeth von der Goltz and Jamie Hunter on merchandising 200 million listings and the misspelling trick that is a goldmine. Plus, my secondhand edit.

TGIF — and happy Poshfest! What is Poshfest? Today and tomorrow, Poshmark is opening Poshfest to the public and turning City Market Social House in downtown L.A. into a two-day market with nearly 5,000 pieces available to shop. Poshmark is where I’ve found some of my most special pieces, including my best score ever — a pair of barely worn and authenticated Chanel black patent moccasins for less than retail. I’ve been curious how a resale marketplace merchandises when it doesn’t own a single item and how they pull together trends.

So I went straight to the source. Elizabeth von der Goltz has bought for and led some of the most influential stores in luxury including Bergdorf Goodman, Net-a-Porter, Matchesfashion, and Farfetch. Whew! Yes, she has long been one of my Retail Crushes. Now she's Poshmark's first-ever Chief Revenue Officer. Joining us is Jamie Hunter, Poshmark's new Fashion & Creative Director, who came from Bergdorf Goodman and Rosie Assoulin. Lesley Clifford also recently joined the Poshmark team as the VP of Merchandising and I’ll have to bring her to Private Label for a chat in the near future. Clifford was most recently the VP of Merchandising at Rothy’s.

After our chat, I took their advice straight to the Poshmark app to search for my own finds. Check out the edit below, along with a secondhand twist on this week’s Good–Better–Best for suede handbags as I search for work appropriate totes.

Paid subscribers read the interview yesterday. As a treat, today it’s free for everyone. If you like getting the good stuff first, upgrade!

If You’re in L.A.

Poshfest | Friday, Oct. 2 and Saturday, Oct. 3, 10am–5pm
City Market Social House, downtown L.A.
Tickets from $12.51

More than 20 curated storefronts, plus a closet edited by Poshmark’s Fashion Director, Jamie Hunter, with nearly 5,000 pieces in all. Most are one-of-one, so go early and if you see something buy it quickly. Your ticket includes a free drink, tote, and more. Everything is bought through the Poshmark app, and you go home with your newest treasures.

Every Day is Market at Poshmark

Jamie Hunter — Courtesy of Tyler Joe. Elizabeth von der Goltz — Courtesy of Poshmark

Sarah Shapiro: Poshfest has been running for years, What’s different this time?

Elizabeth von der Goltz: It was very much a seller-only event, with panels and webinars. The seller community is really tight. They want to hear from Poshmark, and they love hanging out with each other. This is the first time we’re really opening it up. As a retailer, when you meet your customer, that loyalty and that relationship develops into something further. Imagine meeting your shopper, having them be able to come to you, follow your closet in the future because they know you. They know what kind of inventory you have.

When I came into the business, I saw the effort it took to plan these. They were three-day mega events, if the team is doing all this, why don’t we just bring in the public?

Sarah: How do you merchandise inventory you don’t own?

Elizabeth: I feel like a kid in a candy store. We have 200 million listings, and 700,000 listed per day. At this level of inventory, you have to understand what it is: breaking down 200 million listings, putting them in the right categories, and seeing where the supply and demand is. Either we’ve got so much of something and it’s selling really well. Or demand is super high and supply is tight. Or people are searching for something like crazy, and we need to surface it at the right time.

Jamie Hunter: I went to New York Fashion Week, and you clock all of the trends. Instead of waiting six months for that stuff to come in, we just start surfacing it right now. The things I saw trending at New York Fashion Week, three weeks later, are going to be in real life at Poshfest.

Sarah: Is there still a merchandising calendar or cycle you are following?

Elizabeth: Everyone always had the merchandising calendar. Our searches for things probably happen earlier than the regular market. And our audience is so wide. It’s not just a luxury customer. Canon point-and-shoots are so popular now, because young kids think that’s the best camera to have. We saw NeeDoh was hot months before it was in the New York Times [gift link].

Sarah: Elizabeth and Jamie — you both have excellent taste and built a career around merchandising around your taste. How does that show up at Poshmark?

Elizabeth: We did a company all-hands where I talked about taste. It’s not just the actual curations and clothing we’re bringing. We want to bring taste into everything that we’re doing. Even how someone’s writing a piece of code: how can that be beautiful? What is the product experience, the user experience, the product design? We’re doing a lot of brand work on that right now. I think it’s just this idea that the taste always trickles down. People are like, oh, this person, they don’t follow fashion at all, and this is how they dress. I’m like, but you dress that way because of something. You’re influenced by something. A lot of what we’re doing is bringing that taste in, so that we get that trickle-down effect as well.

Jamie: I’m looking at the data, and I hear it and I see it. I’ll grab a few of those things, but then I’m also going to grab a few things that I feel are of the moment, that people are going to respond to, and test to see if there’s a response. It’s not all about listening to trends and data, because you know how that goes. You lose emotion.

Sarah: What’s coming up next?

Elizabeth: This is our first one, but the idea is we really want to go to a different city every single year and make it larger and larger. We are also going to start doing some sort of external reporting, because it’s rich information. I think richer than what’s out there.

Getting to the good stuff

Sarah: The search term you type most, and your trick for finding what others miss?

Elizabeth: “Vintage” is probably the word I type most. But my searches are pretty random — I love going down rabbit holes. I’ll see an homage or an editorial that reminds me of a particular style, era or brand, and suddenly I’m searching for it. Then I’ll hit on something interesting, which sends me down another rabbit hole entirely. I’m not always looking for something specific — I’m looking for the thing I didn’t know I wanted until I found it.

Jamie: I don’t think I have one search term—my behavior is much more rabbit-hole-ish than that. I’ll type in something not particularly obscure, scroll until something catches my eye, click on it and then go to “similar listings.” Or I’ll start with something incredibly specific and let it take me somewhere completely different. This is how you uncover and discover! The best finds are often hiding under the least glamorous listings.

Sarah: The designer or brand that’s undervalued in resale right now?

Elizabeth: I don’t want to give away too many of my secrets! But menswear — I find incredible ’80s and ’90s Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior. I also love rediscovering designers who are coming back into the conversation, like Christopher Kane, and Japanese designers — Junya Watanabe, Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto. And ’90s Prada shoes are a great one. But honestly, even with the most coveted designers, there are incredible pieces hiding at great prices. You just have to go down the rabbit hole.

Jamie: I love searching for brands everyone knows but no one thinks to search vintage for. Bally, Romeo Gigli, Bruno Magli, Nancy Gonzalez, Ungaro. There are decades of really good clothes hiding behind names we’ve all somehow stopped typing into the search bar.

Sarah: Given what you’ve seen during the Spring/Summer 2027 Fashion Week(s), what should people start searching and snapping up now?

Elizabeth: Skirts, skirts, skirts! The Prada influence was everywhere. Sheer, floral prints, unexpected color combinations — fashion feels fun again. There’s also so much vintage inspiration: chinoiserie, the ’90s, great shirting, polka dots. I’d be searching vintage now because so many of those references are already out there — and you can find the originals or very similar styles on Poshmark.

Jamie: Knee-length skirts (the Prada effect), tuxedo shirts, beaded jackets, brocade, and sheer/lingerie dressing. Since fashion is cyclical — and with vintage and secondhand at our finger tips — you no longer have to wait 6 months for the trends to drop.

Sarah: What have you learned from the Poshmark community?

Elizabeth: One slightly naughty trick I’ve learned: sometimes misspelling a designer’s name leads you to the best pieces — because everyone else misses them! But the bigger thing that has amazed me is how early our community is. Things that are about to go viral, we often see happening on Poshmark first. You can see those signals in what people are searching for, selling and buying before they really break into the mainstream.

Jamie: That there really is a buyer for almost everything.

And with that — go have fun searching! Thank you Elizabeth and Jamie.
The conversation has been lightly edited and condensed.

My Searches This Week

• The Prada Effect: a Prada lipstick skirt, a ReNylon skirt, Prada picnic gingham skirt and other fabulous skirts from Dries!, Dries NWT (new with tags), YSL black and white pencil skirt, and I've been hunting for this Phoebe Philo silk skirt on Poshmark. I haven't found it (yet), so check out this color-block option.

• Inspired by Jamie Hunter’s Trend List: a vintage knee length leather Alaïa, Brooks Brothers tuxedo shirt, tuxedo shirt, Charvet tuxedo shirt, 80s white beaded silk jacket, reversible silk jacket, vintage brocade, and this brocade, vintage dressing robe, and a 30s-40s white lace nightgown.

• Dries Van Noten: a beaded vintage dress, black and silver clutch, or a green sequin handbag, and the low profile sneakers.

• Good — Better — Best Work Totes:

  • Good under $150: Longchamp, Vintage Bally black leather, and Mansur Gavriel.

  • Better $250 - $900: Nylon Chanel, Celine leather tote, Hermès Canvas Tote, and a Coach work tote in leather.

  • Best $2,000 and over: an orange Chanel Executive Tote, Hermès Victoria 35 in a gorgeous shade of red, and a Balenciaga Rodeo in Suede.

• Brooch: a Kenneth Jay Lane floral pin, Elsa Peretti Floral Pin, a Coach safety pin — like for a kilt — I’d replace the charm with something else and wear on a scarf, and Chanel CC pearls.

• Luxury for under $500: Hermès Calvi Duo card holder, a silk scarf, a Bottega Veneta belt, and Comme Des Garcons polka dot pouch.

Notes from a Posher — The Millennial Decorator

Image courtesy of Julia Rabinowitsch — The Millennial Decorator.

Julia Rabinowitsch, aka The Millennial Decorator, is one of the creators building a shop for Poshfest. Her edit was hand-picked from Poshmark listings, and she built it as an ideal starter secondhand closet. This includes jackets, pants, heels, and the staple clutches and bags that anchor a wardrobe. She’s bringing 50 to 60 pieces from a designer archive spanning Prada, Gucci, Armani, Dior, Hermès and more. Most pieces fall between $300 and $500, with some affordable finds under $100. Julia will be there in person and told me she loves having the opportunity to see what shoppers gravitate towards.

The Poshfest Booth Guide

More than 20 storefronts, one curated closet and nearly 5,000 pieces. A few on my radar that I’d visit:

• The Millennial Decorator (The Millennial Decorator): a starter designer archive with Prada, Gucci, Armani, Dior and Hermès, mostly $300–$500. More on Julia above. When I personally have questions on designer vintage and sourcing, Julia Rabinowitsch is often my first call.

• Happy Isles (@happyisles_salon): vintage bridal, wedding-guest and special-occasion dresses. They recently sourced the OdlR dress Chloë Sevigny wore.

• Julia Vaughn (@juliavaughn): signed ‘80s and ‘90s YSL, Dior and French couture jewelry. This is a booth for a real collector.

• Justin Lammar (@justinlammar): Ivy and prep menswear from Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, L.L.Bean and Burberry. Justin Lammar’s Instagram is inspiration for preppy style so you can expect the same vision in his finds.

• Homeboy Threads (@homeboythreads): Isabel Hartley’s mix of contemporary and vintage, backed by Homeboy Industries’ second-chance mission.

• Bijou Karman (@bijoukarman): Poshfest’s official artist, selling her personal closet alongside original zines, ceramics, prints and artwork.

Plus!! Don’t forget to visit The Poshmark POV closet: Jamie Hunter’s edit of the trends and finds that are defining fashion right now. After speaking with her for this story I know she has her eyes wide-open for the best pieces.

What’s on the racks: vintage and Y2K; designer (Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Miu Miu); contemporary (Reformation, Staud, Dôen, Isabel Marant, Sézane, Ulla Johnson); collectible jewelry; bridal; and menswear from preppy to streetwear.

How you buy: Every piece has its own QR code. Scan it, buy it through the Poshmark app with the new Event Mode, and walk out with it. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

My merchant take: Poshmark is helping you get to the good stuff. Which is what retailers should be doing! This is an excellent customer service and loyalty opportunity. Compare it to Sephora’s SEPHORiA event where the images (UGC = User Generated Content) from everyone who attends can be played over and over and shared on social. It helps explain to the shoppers what Poshmark is and help discover the best creators to follow and places to shop. Because if you find a Posher you like following you are more likely to come back and shop more.

Sure, there is also the downside if this wasn’t managed well to have a PR disaster like the Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow in 2024 and while the memes and content that came out of it were hilarious, the whole event was a disaster. This isn’t going to happen here. The team has planned and thought of everything.

I’m also manifesting that this Poshfest is a way to test rolling out more events that can happen globally in more cities and perhaps even a permanent location. I love shopping secondhand stores IRL because every visit the merchandise changes. It becomes true discovery in a retail environment where there is so much sameness.

Another benefit for Poshmark is they get the data for the event. They can watch their shoppers engage physically with products and other Poshers. This is something that usually happens behind a screen. I hope all the Poshmark employees that are attending are observing and taking notes and I’m sure they will download the data after and see which products sold the fastest, which Posh shops were busiest, and what the Average Order Value was. Just a few examples. (Hey Elizabeth — feel free to send me some data after! You know I love looking at the raw data for the gems and learnings.)

While you’re there: free steaming from Rowenta, on-site tailoring, and a patio with music, food trucks and free popsicles from Pinterest.

Get your tickets here

What's your best Poshmark find ever? Tell me in the comments.

Made just for you — always. See you tomorrow with a Paris shopping guide from my good friend and personal stylist.

xx, Sarah Shapiro

Private Label Issue 56

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