José Neves, Farfetch – Fashion for the Future.

What if anyone in the world could access any fashion boutique in the world? $FTCH

The founder and CEO of $FTCH is an entrepreneur with a career spanning over 10 years within the retail industry that has transformed the industry’s e-commerce space by providing a full-service platform for consumers to buy luxury fashion from boutiques & brands around the world.

José Neves was born in 1974. He grew up in Porto, Portugal, where his grandfather owned a shoe factory. He founded a software firm called Platforme for small fashion brands in 1996. In 1996, at the age of 22, he launched a footwear brand named Swear, and opened a store in London.

He started a fashion store named b Store in London in 2001. In 2008, Neves founded  $FTCH bringing together his interests in fashion and tech, as well as his experience in design and retail, to create a business that would celebrate the diversity of the global fashion industry.

His vision was to create a single portal, offering independent boutiques the opportunity to compete with the leaders of fashion e-commerce.

People are “discovering the incredible advantage of buying luxury online,” he said. “A Chinese customer can have their favorite boutiques from Paris, New York and Miami, their favorite brands in their pocket.”

“What is a brand if not memory in our brain cells? Consumers are discovering the joys of buying luxury online, a very underpenetrated category. These are customers that are here to stay.”

“We’re focused on our mission so we don’t focus on stock price movements,” Neves said. “We stay steady to our vision to be the global platform for luxury.”

I will probably start a position next week. $FTCH