A global marketplace, The Hula, has been launched in Hong Kong for the resale of designer women’s clothing, shoes, bags and accessories.

Founder Sarah Fung former worked for luxury label retailer Lane Crawford.

“All our sellers are by invitation only, industry insiders,” says Fung. These include buyers, stylists, editors and bloggers, and 5 per cent of the marketplace’s profits are donated to partnered charities.

The brand portfolio includes such labels as 3.1 Phillip Lim, Alaia, Balenciaga, Celine, Chanel, Chloe, Isabel Marant, J.Crew, Sacai, Saint Laurent and Valentino, in mostly new or hardly worn condition and at prices up to 90 per cent off retail.

Before her nine-year stint at Lane Crawford Hong Kong, Fung owned a lingerie company in London designing for high-end fashion stores such as Browns Focus, Colette Paris and Selfridges.

She says her friends and colleagues amassed wonderful wardrobes of “worn once” or “never worn” pieces, but did not know how to dispose of items they no longer wanted. “I felt that there were too many great pieces that needed new homes … so Hula was conceived.”

It is a partnership with her sister Vivien Fung Thomas, a graduate of London College of Fashion who has experience in product development and retail management. Together their hope is to inspire social change within luxury consumerism in Asia by creating a fashion community where members can effortlessly consign items they no longer need and discover designer pieces at economical prices.