Loyalty and Fashion

At every turn, it seems any brand that was solely brick-and-mortar is looking to find a way to be online. And, in order to increase profits, there comes a point where they look to cut out the middleman and build up their own online presence.

In a recent WWD article, Vetements' CEO, Guram Gvasalia spoke to why he was not looking to build an e-commerce platform for his brand.

"Regarding our direct e-commerce, we’re very loyal people and most of these online stores, they helped us to build this company. And it feels wrong to go there and take a piece of their pie away. My top five e-stores represent about half of my business. The dimensions of the orders and the dimensions of the merchandise you can sell online, it’s insane. The main stores are in big cities and now there are so many people outside of main cities that are starting to be aware of fashion."

What I find most intriguing about this statement is the loyalty Gvasalia is highlighting, along with the acknowledgement their focus as a brand is on fashion and not technology, per say.

After working in finance and then making a conscience decision to switch industries and move into the fashion world, I didn't quite know what to expect. Of course, one thing could be certain - fashion is a business and when you have a business that has shareholders involved, whether internal or external, the stakes are always greater.

In turn, reading comments like these from Gvasalia makes me happy to know that even in a difficult industry like fashion, there are brands that are willing to take a different route, which may not be the easiest, and just like their designs, are willing to blaze a new path forward.

I'm interested to see if other brands will follow or at least take note of Vetements direction.

Of course, time will tell!

Also in Blog