‘Virality isn’t always good’: One luxury resale platform on cracking the UK

When Ben Gallagher announced he was stepping away from Luxe Collective last year, the resale brand he built from the ground up as a teenager, many were unsure what his next steps would be.

His move to lead UK brand marketing for Fashionphile, following the American giant’s acquisition of Luxe Collective, marked a shift from creator-founder to working for one of the world’s biggest luxury resale businesses.

The context matters because Luxe Collective’s rise and eventual collapse unfolded in real time across social platforms, creating both loyal fans and vocal critics.

For Gallagher, the first challenge has been merging two very different types of brand equity. Fashionphile is enormous in scale, but little known in Britain. Luxe Collective was far smaller, but had built a notable cultural footprint online.

“Not a lot of people in the UK have heard of Fashionphile, but everyone had heard of Luxe Collective,” he says.

I’m hoping to build a strategy where it’s not just people shopping from me. It’s people shopping from Fashionphile

Ben Gallagher, Fashionphile UK

He sees the acquisition as bringing those strengths together.

“We had quite a large social media presence, so I feel like we’re combining the best of both worlds,” Gallagher notes.

Central to that strategy is social media. Luxe Collective’s content once regularly hit 1 million views a day, driven largely by Gallagher’s own presence. Rebuilding that momentum after months of silence has required a shift in mindset. He admits the pause “is obviously not an overall net benefit”, yet he argues it created a sense of anticipation.

Gallagher no longer considers reach the primary goal. He recalls becoming “really addicted to posting viral videos”, analysing the first three seconds and shaping story arcs to maximise replays. That approach was limiting.

“Virality doesn’t always mean good. Community is more the aim now,” he states.

That change has shaped the brand’s content strategy, which leans towards regular interaction rather than engineered spikes. Live content plays a major role. Gallagher goes live on TikTok almost daily, a much more aggressive approach than Fashionphile’s US team. He claims going live on social media is the brand’s “best tool”.

The value is not just in real-time selling. This strategy allows instant customer service for high-value purchases.

“If someone asks you a question, you can get back to them like that, especially if you’re spending several thousand pounds on something,” says Gallagher.

Offline, he wants Fashionphile’s US showroom model to become a defining part of the UK brand. The American flagships combine warehouse operations with luxurious retail spaces and events. London was already home to Luxe Collective’s largest customer base, so being physically present in the capital has aided engagement.

Community building is essential, with Gallagher seeing room in the UK for a more premium resale experience.

“You walk into a Fashionphile flagship and it’s like walking into a Chanel or a Louis Vuitton. The UK hasn’t got that [in the secondhand space],” he notes.

Shifting priorities

The leadership shift from founder to brand director has been positive. Gallagher thought the transition would be difficult, but describes it as inspiring.

“It still feels like our own business,” he says.

Fashionphile’s founders Sarah Davis and Ben Hemminger have given the UK team considerable autonomy. Their leadership style is something Gallagher wishes he had understood earlier in his own entrepreneurial journey.

His five-person team works in what he calls a “scrappy” and “reactive” way, with regular visits from US colleagues to ensure operations match Fashionphile standards. The leap in scale has been eye-opening.

“With Luxe Collective, the most we ever had was 2,000 units and we’ve got that already now. Fashionphile have about 40,000 units that we own,” he explains.

The volume was “the biggest surprise” and a reminder of how different this chapter is from running a startup.

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Luxe Collective’s closure in May sparked a wave of commentary online, thanks to the brand’s reaction to its warehouse robbery in July 2024 and reports by some former employees of a poor working environment.

“People are so easy to speak about things they don’t know,” says Gallagher.

While he’s developed a thick skin, some remarks are still hurtful.

“If you’ve got time to write a negative comment to someone you’ve never met, I feel more sorry for the person on the other end,” he says.

Gallagher points to patience as the biggest lesson he is carrying into Fashionphile. Luxe Collective scaled quickly and stretched itself too far, in his opinion .

“We didn’t need to hire that many people, we didn’t need to move into a unit that big. We could have kept things small and been super profitable,” he reflects.

Starting at 17 and closing the business at 25 means Gallagher has effectively grown up in public, and the experience now shapes his approach to growth. His vision for the next 12 months is measured. He wants to restore consistent reach across social and grow a community that is loyal to the brand, rather than to him personally

“I’m hoping to build a strategy where it’s not just people shopping from me. It’s people shopping from Fashionphile,” he says.

That shift from creator-led attention to brand-level trust may be the test that defines the next stage of Gallagher’s career.