What Really Goes Into Celebrity Closet Sales

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This morning at 10 a.m. (7 a.m. PST), more than 200 handbags, shoes, tops, and bottoms previously owned by the Kardashians went on sale on the popular luxury consignment website The Real Real, many for under $100. That means you — a normal who doesn’t even have their own line of merch for their bespoke emoji — can purchase and wear the same crop top that once cropped the top-half of Kylie Jenner.

How does it all go down? We asked The Real Real senior director of marketing communications Nancy Alonzo, who told us that contrary to our expectations, it actually works pretty much the same way as it does when you attempt to consign your decade-old H&M skirt at Buffalo Exchange (just with far fancier and way more expensive items).

Kendall's Isabel Marant trousers.

For example, the Isabel Marant trousers Kendall Jenner was photographed wearing last September are currently available for $95, and once they sell, Kendall herself will receive a check for 70% of that, while The Real Real keeps the other 30%. Ditto with Kylie’s Neil Barrett crop top ($75), Khloe’s Galvan jumpsuit ($275), and Kendall’s Céline bag ($1,495).

So nope, the celebrities aren’t being paid any more than any other seller on The Real Real when they sell their clothes. The real benefit for them, according to Alonzo, is simply an easy closet cleanout. Generally, a luxury representative from the retailer will work with celebrities’ stylists (in this case, that’s trend inventor Monica Rose) to pull their unwanted items and price them accordingly (and no, there’s no markup just because it came from a celeb’s closet).

All in all, Alonzo says, a celebrity closet sale really doesn’t require much work on the part of The Real Real or the celeb — it’s all about having enough items to turn into a buzzy sale. But even with the more than 200 items up for grabs, Alonzo expects everything will be gone in the span of a few hours. On that note — what are you waiting for? Get to it.