Luxury resale comes to TV with VH1’s ‘House of Consignment’

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Consignment shops have long been considered the domain of the dowdy. But ‘House of Consignment,’ debuting on VH1 Wednesday, takes thrift upscale.

In a program that fuses all the glamour and fashion-forward freneticism of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ with the surprise and auctioneering of ‘Storage Wars,’ ‘House of Consignment’ follows Corri McFadden, founder of eDrop-Off, a luxury consignment business in Chicago that resells gently used, high-end designer items through a dedicated portal on EBay.

Missoni, Prada, Versace -- you name it. EDrop-Off sells more than 2,000 such items each week, and ‘House of Consignment’ shows viewers exactly how.

The fast-paced and upbeat show tags along as McFadden visits client’s closets, which are packed, in many instances, with millions of dollars worth of Hermes, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta and other exclusive designer items.

‘Some of these closets, the merchandise just sitting on the floor could send an entire city to college. It’s crazy,’ said McFadden, who applauds her clients’ vulnerability for allowing her into a space that is so personal and letting her guide them through the purging of rarely, if ever, worn items.

McFadden, 29, is a charismatic and high-energy businesswoman in hot pink lipstick and heels who started eDrop-Off with $37 and an idea when she was a senior in fashion school. A self-described hustler who used to sell lollipops to her classmates during elementary school, she’s raked in more than $5 million in profits with eDrop-Off, which takes a 40% cut of its consignment sales. The consigner gets 60%.

‘House of Consignment’ is an outgrowth of an article about McFadden that ran in Chicago Social magazine in 2010. A production company approached McFadden about doing a reality show, a pilot was shot and VH1 bit.

‘Our audience is women in their late 20s. They love the idea of women following their passion and designing a career for themselves,’ said Jeff Olde, head of programming for the cable television network, which has had a lot of success lately with ‘Single Ladies’ and other shows about ‘very strong, unapologetic and wholly unique women making their mark in the world. Corri is the embodiment of that.’

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-- Susan Carpenter