Photo: Jules Pastor (LinkedIn)
The pre-loved luxury handbag market has matured—but reliable, real-time data still lags behind.
Enter Jules Pastor—data scientist, founder of Hera, and KoverNow’s first Handbag Ambassador. With a background in economics and data science, Jules has spent years building pricing intelligence tools for preloved luxury space. His latest creation, the KoverNow500, is a curated index of 500 collector-grade handbags built from 18 months of resale and auction data, identifying the bags with the strongest value retention and trading volume. These bags now form the backbone of KoverNow’s handbag item database—making it easier for users to add, value, and insure their collections in just a few taps.
You’ve gone from LSE to data-science bootcamps to founding Hera. What sparked your fascination with the pre-loved luxury resale market, and how did each step prepare you for it?
Since I was a teenager, I have always been interested in fashion. I would wait hours in line for the next hypebeast drops to buy them both for myself and to resell online. However, I’d always been frustrated with the lack of data and/or insights in the preloved market and thought more could be done. After graduating from LSE with a degree in economics and economic history, I did a couple of internships in and around data and analytics and thought there was more I could do if I dove into it. I went to Berlin to learn how to code, and while I was learning, the voice of my 15-year-old self-popped up in my head telling me to look into preloved fashion, and it hasn’t left me since.
In one sentence, why is real-time transaction data the single biggest unlock for buyers and sellers today?
Transparency is the last hurdle the preloved luxury market needs to overcome to be universally adopted by customers, and providing real-time transaction data allows them to know exactly what they should be paying for any given item.
Can you walk us through your methodology—sources, filters, and criteria—for selecting the 500 “collector-grade” handbags?
Source: KoverNow
The KoverNow500 Index was born from numerous conversations with the KoverNow team. We wanted to create something that would encompass both the most sought-after bags in terms of value and the most popular bags in terms of transaction volume, to provide KoverNow users with live estimates for every bag they were likely to want to insure. To do so, I collected data from over 20 professional resellers over the course of 18 months, as well as auction data from the past 20 years. After processing and standardizing this data to make it comparable, I structured the KoverNow500 to be a blend of high-value and high-volume assets.
Which stats from the Index surprised you, and what do they reveal about collector behaviour?
Hera focuses on pricing transparency while KoverNow focuses on protection. How do you see those missions reinforcing each other for collectors?
Where Hera lays the foundation for transparency in the preloved luxury market, KoverNow provides the reassurance needed for customers to invest safely in luxury items. Our collaboration only furthers this reassurance by providing real-time updated pricing to customers, ensuring fair compensation in case of theft.
Which structural changes matter most to the handbag market as we move toward 2026?
I believe the complicated year firsthand luxury is set to have in 2025 will be of great value to the preloved market. Demand will remain stable, but I believe supply will increase, providing a great environment for buyers to invest in new handbags.
Beyond price algorithms, emerging tools—blockchain provenance, AI image recognition, fractional ownership—will most reshape how we trade or insure handbags?
Photo: Forbes
Digital passport technology will be a game changer once it is widely adopted, providing a simple and easy way for customers to track their bag’s origin and story. This will provide further authentication and insurance guarantees, further promoting the preloved luxury market as a safe place to invest.
Your elevator pitch: three things every luxury handbag collector should do before buying—and one mistake to avoid at all costs.
Think of your handbag as an investment and not a frivolous expense, if you take care of it and choose wisely, you could end up recouping a significant part of your investment even after wearing it often.
Check as many resellers and platforms to ensure you get the best deal, or better yet, check Hera to see if the prices you’re getting are the right ones.
Once you have decided to invest in a bag, you should insure it. Using KoverNow, you’ll be reimbursed at the current market rate.
Turning Data Into Confidence for Collectors
Today’s collectors are smarter and more data-driven than ever. And with tools like the KoverNow500 powering our in-app handbag valuations, protecting your luxury pieces has never been easier or more precise.
Thanks to Jules Pastor’s market expertise and data methodology, KoverNow users can now instantly reference live market estimates for 500 of the most sought-after handbag models—from Hermès Birkins to Chanel classics—and insure them at fair value. In a market where condition and provenance can shift prices by thousands, this data-driven foundation empowers collectors to act with confidence.
We’re proud to have Jules onboard as our first Handbag Ambassador—bringing transparency to handbag pricing, and protection to the collectors who care about it most.
About Jules Pastor
Jules Pastor is a data scientist specializing in pricing and insights in the preloved luxury sector. After graduating from the London School of Economics with a BSc in Economics and Economic History, Jules held different roles among startups before moving to Berlin, Germany to learn how to code. While learning, he started building Fantum Research: a data analytics and pricing solution company for the preloved luxury market, which he would later transform into Hera: an app bringing transparency to the secondhand luxury market. Hera provides real-time analytics into the preloved luxury market, allowing users to know which factors influence the price of their bags, and exactly how much their handbag portfolio is worth! Today, on top of developing Hera, he provides consulting and SaaS services to actors within the preloved luxury sector.
