The founders of Australian luxury resale marketplace High End have launched their very own artificial intelligence authentication tool, which is also being marketed for other players in the industry to use.
Called Verity AI, the tool reportedly has a 98 per cent strike rate, with the aim of addressing the $1.8 trillion global counterfeit problem. It also comes as the global resale market is projected to hit US$350 billion by 2028, with Australia estimated to be around $60 billion currently.
High End CEO and co-founder Lauren Kennedy said authentication is the biggest friction point in resale and, until now, it's only been accessible to ultra-luxury brands like Hermès or Chanel, where manual checks and human experts are viable.
“That doesn’t work for the other 85 per cent of resale inventory,” Kennedy said, noting that many of the brands listed on High End – such as Camilla, Lee Mathews and Alemais – fall more in the premium-priced space.
Kennedy said Verity AI uses smartphone images to assess whether an item is authentic or not in seconds. The tool is embedded into High End, but it’s also made available to other businesses via a plug-in.
“The biggest surprise for most traditional retailers entering resale is that your inventory isn’t standardised, your suppliers aren’t vetted, and your fraud risks are far more complex,” Kennedy said. “You’re not managing repeat SKUs from trusted vendors, you’re dealing with one-off items, unverified sellers, and the growing presence of professional counterfeiters who know how to replicate tags, receipts, and even return policies.
Kennedy added that what’s often overlooked is that resale fraud doesn’t just damage consumer trust – it also hurts brand equity.
“We’ve seen fake items sold multiple times on different platforms before they’re flagged, often with brands having no visibility. That’s why Verity AI was designed to integrate directly into business workflows. It allows you to authenticate products at scale, in real-time, using image recognition and a growing dataset of fakes vs. genuine markers, without slowing down your operations.
“If you're running a resale platform, managing high-volume returns, or trying to protect IP in a grey market, Verity AI becomes more than a nice-to-have, it’s core infrastructure for your trust layer. And in a retail economy where trust drives conversion, that’s a major growth lever.”
Kennedy said resale is fundamentally reshaping the way consumers think about luxury. She said it’s no longer just about status, but also about longevity, sustainability and investment potential.
“Buyers are checking resale value before they buy at retail, and sellers are listing pieces with the intention of re-circulating them later. In this new model, authenticity becomes non-negotiable. You wouldn’t invest in a fake stock and the same goes for fashion.”
She added that demand for luxury isn’t disappearing, or being shifted thanks to the growth of resale, with customers now opting to buy second-hand luxury as cost-of-living bites.
At High End, Kennedy said there has been a significant increase in secondhand purchases of brands like Zimmermann, Alemais, Jacquemus, and Aje – often for items that are still in-season.
“Consumers are increasingly comparing retail discounts on sites like Cettire to secondhand listings and finding that resale offers a better deal, especially when trust and authenticity are guaranteed.
“Traffic and conversion on our platform have been rising steadily, proving that resale is now part of the mainstream purchase journey, not a fringe alternative.”
The core active customer demographic for High End sits among Gen and Millennials, particularly for trend-driven designer pieces and “rare find” hunting. But Kennedy said there is strong growth over the last year among older demographics.
“Many of our newer sellers are women in their 40s and 50s with extensive designer wardrobes, who value the ease and reward of selling on a platform that vets buyers and manages trust,” Kennedy said. “On the buyer side, Millennials are embracing resale with a more investment-focused mindset – buying fewer pieces, but choosing ones with high resale value and longevity.
“Resale has evolved into a cross-generational behaviour, with different motivations but shared expectations around trust, transparency, and quality.”
High End was founded by Kennedy and her business partner Brooke Marks in 2014, launching initially as a Facebook group, before moving to a dedicated website.