How this British expat in Dubai is helping UAE shoppers embrace sustainable pre-loved fashion

British expat Jessica Coote launched Closet Concierge, a Dubai-based pre-loved fashion and consignment business, after moving to the UAE in 2024 and finding herself with a wardrobe full of unworn clothes. The venture is self-funded and built from the ground up to take the friction out of selling secondhand garments by managing the entire process — from intake through to resale — for sellers and buyers in the city.

“I decided to build the service that I wished existed,” Coote said, summarising the motivation behind Closet Concierge.

Coote’s concept grew out of a personal pain point: the time-consuming, frustrating process of photographing, listing and managing individual sales. Rather than ask sellers to handle those steps, Closet Concierge offers a white-glove alternative designed specifically for the way people live and shop in the UAE. Coote said she saw “a genuine gap in the market” and wanted to create “something that made the whole experience easier for both sides, giving people a convenient way to clear out their wardrobes while making pre-loved fashion feel more accessible and appealing to shoppers.”

Building an e-commerce operation was not something Coote came into with formal experience. She taught herself core areas of online retail such as Shopify, SEO, marketing, social media, operations and logistics, and adjusted strategies as some initiatives failed to produce the desired results. “The biggest lesson has been not to take failure personally. If something doesn’t work out, I need to figure out a different way to get the result I'm looking for,” she said.

Closet Concierge has remained self-funded since its inception, a choice Coote says has forced disciplined spending and gradual growth while preserving control over the company’s direction. That financial approach informed decisions such as prioritising reinvestment into areas with clear returns and avoiding rapid scaling before operational systems were proven.

Early milestones and community support

• First anniversary: Coote marked an important milestone by hosting the company's first birthday event, where she met customers and heard feedback in person — an experience she described as particularly rewarding.
• Community backing: She highlighted support from other small, female-led businesses in the UAE and described the local entrepreneurial community as “very open to collaboration and new ideas.”
• Personal transition: Coote left her 9-to-5 job to run Closet Concierge full time after deliberation and periods of uncertainty; she counsels others that fear is normal when making such a leap.

Looking ahead, Coote’s ambition is to make Closet Concierge a leading destination for pre-loved fashion in the UAE and, over time, to expand into other markets. Her immediate priority remains shifting consumer behaviour: normalising resale as part of the wardrobe lifecycle so pieces that no longer work for one person can find new owners rather than sit unused. “I see it becoming a platform that makes the entire lifecycle of a wardrobe easier, from selling and shopping to donating and finding new homes for pieces that would otherwise be left unused,” she said.