Imagine a shopper finding a dress she likes. She thinks this could be the perfect one to wear to her friend’s wedding. It’s expensive, but elegant. She only has one question.
“Can I resell this after?”
A new startup designed an entire system that can support the only acceptable answer in this economy, and that is a resounding “yes.”
It’s called the Presale Marketplace, the first ever online platform to usher in a new way to shop: list a piece before you buy it, see who wants it next, and check out with the next sale or rental already lined up.
“We’re targeting Gen Z and young millennial women,” said Katie Pfleger, who co-founded Trace, the New York-based startup behind the Presale Marketplace. “We’re targeting someone who loves fashion, wants to be able to wear and access fashion, but without having to like front the cost of every single piece.”
Gen Z loves to shop preloved fashion. According to a U.S. survey from post-purchase platform Seel, no other demographic bought as much secondhand clothing online in 12 months as Gen Z (57.4 percent) followed by millennials (52.8 percent). By comparison, only 26.2 percent of Gen X consumers, aged between 46 to 61, said they thrifted online during that period.
It remains to be seen, however, if Gen Z’s preference for secondhand shopping still holds when the equation is flipped. As co-founder Ella Rubin explained it: Trace connects different shoppers “so the next sale can help make the first purchase possible.”
To use the platform, a shopper links to a piece they’re considering, which will then be listed by Trace’s AI in seconds.
Interested shoppers then place a “call,” which is essentially an offer to either buy or rent the piece after it’s purchased by the buyer, under specific terms. If an offer is accepted, then the primary shopper can proceed with the purchase with the next transaction already arranged.
Trace was founded by Pfleger and her best friend Rubin, who met at Harvard Business School. They both love shopping new and preloved. Pfleger, who worked as a senior software engineer at Etsy, considers herself a longtime resale power user with more than 700 Poshmark listings. Rubin, on the other hand, came from a marketing background, having previously worked in Yext, an enterprise agentic marketing platform.
“I’ve justified countless expensive purchases by telling myself, ‘I’ll resell it later,’” said Rubin. “I was letting money I might never get back determine what I was willing to spend.”
Trace has raised $3 million in a seed round led by Serena Ventures, with participation from Shakti VC. The concept was also received warmly online, when a TikTok influencer featured Trace on her TikTok, where the video reportedly drew more than 900,000 views and more than 700 comments.
The Presale Marketplace also has a New York launch at the Shopify SoHo pop-up, where can shop from eight stylists, including Carly Jordan, Jordanna Sharp and Alexa Eshaghian Speight. Shoppers can try pieces on, list a favorite before buying and see a how a “call” works in the Presale Marketplace.