Sign of the Times acquires PapillonKia assets as growth continues

High-end fashion and accessories resale platform Sign of the Times has made another acquisition, taking on the assets of designer pre-owned accessories marketplace PapillonKia, its third buy in three years. 

PapillonKia closed recently and its acquisition is being  financed independently by Sign of the Times.

It follows the company acquiring the assets of pre-loved platform Cudoni as recently as August with the two acquisitions together growing the firm’s customer database by 40% and making it “a leader in the UK resale space”. 

The company had also been growing fast on an organic basis, saying that prior to the acquisitions it had grown by 300% in the last three years.

The almost-50-year-old company is clearly seen as a good bet when it comes to the future potential of resale and this year secured investment from BrandAlley and “other industry leaders” with personal investments from Tamara Hill-Norton of Sweaty Betty and Sarah Welsh, CEO of Retail for N Brown. 

Sign of the Times was founded in a different era — in 1976 — as a physical retailer on Chelsea Green, London, reselling designer items owned by celebrities. 

But its operations are now global via its website and it also offers “hard to find current season and pre-owned fashion of up to three seasons prior”.

There are daily drops at 10am on its wearsott.com wesbtore with 5,000 items in total online and 2,000 pieces in-store.