Closing out Pride Month, Elton John is giving fans the opportunity to support the Elton John AIDS Foundation through an online auction in partnership with eBay. The “Rocket Man Resale” includes hundreds of items curated from the icon’s collection from his Atlanta home. The wide assortment includes bespoke Gucci jackets, Versace robes and customized Prada loafers as well as historic concert T-shirts.
While hosting large-scale auctions of luxury fashion items is not new to eBay, Charis Marquez, vice president of fashion at eBay, told WWD that the “Rocket Man Resale” auction stands out as being iconic. It’s a chance, she said, for the marketplace’s 132 million active buyers to truly “own a piece of music and fashion history. Having a cultural icon selling his pre-loved fashion on eBay in support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation is a real indicator of our ability to offer incredible access to luxury items that you just can’t find anywhere else.”
John has notably donated items from his closet to support the Elton John AIDS Foundation in the past and said that “giving new life to the cherished items from [his] wardrobe has always been special.”
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“I’m an avid shopper as you can tell,” said John. “I always have been. And these clothes were in the Atlanta apartment which we’ve sold and so what are you going to do with the clothes? You’re going to sell them and make money for the foundation and let people who never buy anything like this come and collect something of mine which has hardly been worn.”
John called out that this is the seventh auction that has been put together to benefit his foundation saying that “it’s fun. It’s interesting to see what people buy.” Notably, in addition to items from John’s own “Atlanta treasure trove,” donations have been made by David Furnish, Donatella Versace, Brandi Carlile, Betsey Johnson, Robin Roberts and Andy Cohen.
When asked if there were any items he was sad to part with, John said he’s “just glad that people will get the use out of it. There are some really one-off items like the Alessandro bomber jacket, which was specially made for me. And there’s some Patrick Cox custom loafers.”
The Patrick Cox loafers, David Furnish, chair of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, said were made especially for John as the designer had never made men’s sizes. Upon reflection, John said that he “may want one of those pairs back,” to which Furnish said they may buy something back today. After all, it all goes to charity.
In terms of the decision to partner with eBay for this auction, Furnish said that he and John have “always been big fans of eBay” sharing that because Elton is a collector of vinyl he is “always combing the internet looking for rare things he can’t normally get in a shop. EBay is a great source for [that].”
It was important, they agreed, that the auction be available online to reach as many people as possible. While the auction does have an in-person component with a West Village pop-up shop in New York City, the auction will be online for consumers everywhere through July 6.
“We needed somebody that could help take all the clothes from the Atlanta home and make them available to fans in person but also online because so many people shop that way and a lot of people can’t come to New York to a shop like this,” said Furnish. “[EBay was] just a terrific fit for us.”
“It’s going to be interesting, because we’ve never really done this before, to see how it does online,” said John. “We always hear from the fans that couldn’t get to the pop-ups so eBay is absolutely the perfect fit for us.”
The “perfect fit” extends, they said, not only to the marketplace’s scale but also through a found synergy.
“[It’s] their generosity and the fact that 100 percent of the proceeds are going to the Elton John AIDS Foundation,” said Furnish. “We have a lot of work to do and to get a corporate partner who is stepping up so generously and shares the same passion and vision that we have for an AIDS-free world is a dream come true.”
“It’s amazing,” John added. “I’m so blown away by it and that generosity is staggering.”
Marquez added that “the element of purpose is why we do what we do” at eBay. “There really is no other platform that you can really choose to [partner with] to donate 100 percent of the sales to a particular charity. EBay is typically the one chosen for these events because of the fact that we have this massive charity platform, we have this massive reach. When we think about access, what’s really critical even in the luxury space, is access to these unbelievable items only on eBay. It’s shoppable.”
Importantly, purpose is at the forefront of the “Rocket Man Resale” auction. John and Furnish said there is still so much work to be done through their foundation, calling out stigma reduction as a key focus.
“There’s still a huge stigma associated with the disease,” said Furnish. “People still carry a lot of shame around it because it’s sexually transmitted. We have all the tools today if everybody had access there would be no new infections and so getting people to break down those barriers that stop people from getting an AIDS test and access to education, those are the initiatives that we’re focusing on now. We have to get down to zero new transmissions.”
With now 30 years of work at the foundation, Furnish said it’s important to keep looking forward and never rest on laurels.
“It’s like my career, I never look back,” said John. “I always look forward. There is so much more work to do. You cannot sit there and be satisfied with what you’ve done as a musician, as an artist. You must look forward all the time. And that’s exactly the same attitude we have with the foundation.”
