S10 Ep10 FASHIONICA: Nica Che is building a live-streamed pre-loved luxury resale community and business - on sourcing designer handbags, and the art of the weekly drop.

Today, we're chatting with Nica, the founder behind FashioNica — a live-streamed marketplace for curated pre-loved designer handbags, jewelry, and watches that has built one of the most devoted communities in the luxury resale space.

Every Thursday at 7 p.m. Pacific, Nica drops a new collection, but the real magic happens in the thirty minutes before that, when she goes live on Instagram to show off what she found that week — it's basically a FaceTime call with a few thousand of your most handbag-obsessed girlfriends to see what Nica found this week. Each drop, her bags routinely sell out in under two minutes.

Nica grew up thrifting, scanning the racks at Goodwill and Salvation Army for the trends she'd clock at Forever 21, where she worked after school. She developed a sharp eye early — and, as it turned out, an even sharper instinct for which pieces were worth holding onto. A Nordstrom employee discount and a Chloé backpack were her gateway into designer pieces. After that, there was no going back — though she's never really considered buying new when pre-loved exists.

What started as a passion project filmed on an iPhone, with bags laid out all over her apartment, has grown into a full operation with a team, a warehouse, international sourcing trips, and a major pop-up event — FashioNica Fest — that drew hundreds of community members to a studio full of bags she'd personally sourced in Japan.

On today's episode, we get into all of it — how Nica sources the pieces that end up in your cart, the art of the Thursday night drop, and why she believes a bag with a little wear is always going to be more interesting than one that's never left the store.

Let's dive right in!

DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE:

• [6:04] Nica got into thrifting at the Goodwill and Salvation Army in high school.
• [9:45] How she got into designer handbags during her time working at Nordstrom.
• [12:40] How she landed styling work on celebrity cover shoots by sliding into DMs.
• [17:10] Why she started creating fashion content on TikTok.
• [22:31] Investing $15,000 into an early inventory buy.
• [27:08] Prepping for a weekly bag drop.
• [34:25] Growing the team behind FashioNica.
• [34:25] Growing the team behind FashioNica.
• [37:21] Designer bag sourcing trips in Paris and Japan.
• [39:15] Planning FashioNica Fest: the first major pop-up, born from a sourcing trip.
• [44:24] Nica's personal bag collection.
• [48:47] Watching Jane Birkin's original Birkin sell at auction for $10 million.

EPISODE MENTIONS:

• FashioNica.com
• @xofashionica
• FashioNica on TikTok
• Nica's YouTube
• Jenn Im - Youtube
• Aya Kanai
• @fashionica.shop - "behind the bag drop" secret Instagram

LET'S CONNECT:

• 📸Instagram: @emilymstochl
• 🐦Threads: @emilymstochl
• 🎥TikTok: @emilymstochl
• 📧 Substack: https://prelovedpod.substack.com/
• 🎧Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/prelovedpod

SPECIAL THANKS:

A special thanks goes out to my Patron Insiders – your support makes Pre-Loved Podcast possible!

• Patty Weber
• Kathy Brand
• Lisa of Queenie & Pearl
• Lydia Welp
• Michael A.
• Megan Morris
• Jennifer
• Alana Rivero
• Jerrica Yasumura
• Amanda Hale