Fancy a Givenchy top from Stella Tennant? What about a Chanel graffiti tote from Caroline de Maigret or a Balenciaga dress straight from Kim Kardashian’s closet? Those are just a handful of the many pre-owned items that have been made available to buy on resale marketplace Vestiaire Collective.
Today, pre-owned fashion seems like a no-brainer – what’s not to love bagging an item from your favourite designer at a fraction of the price – but it wasn’t always that way. Cast your mind back seven or eight years ago and you’ll remember that it was once shrouded by taboo. The turnaround in attitudes now is less than a passing trend though – it’s evidence of what happens when you’re unapologetic about what you believe in.
Fanny Moizant had unwavering belief that pre-owned fashion was the future when she set up Vestiaire Collective in 2009 with the company’s five other founders. While taking time out to have her two daughters she noticed bloggers selling their designer cast-offs on their fashion blog and wanted to create a platform to house them in one place. After collecting around 2,000 items from friends and family, Vestiaire was born just over a year later.
The site’s strength lies in authenticity. A quality control team based in Paris vets through each item put forward for sale, checking authenticity and suggesting a price. Thirty per cent are instantly rejected, leaving 1,000 new products to go live on the site each day for Vestiaire’s 3 million members.
Just over a year ago, Moizant made the cross-Channel hop to open a London office as part of Vestiaire Collective’s strategy for world domination. Offices in Berlin and New York quickly followed and the 35 year-old has seen the company grow from a handful of employees to 130, with a major round of investment from Conde Nast to boot.
Despite the success, Moizant is the first to admit that she can’t do it all. Here, she talks to The Lifestyle Edit about why it’s important to follow your instinct, what she’s learnt about balancing business and being a mom and why remembering to find time for yourself is one of the most important things you can do.
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I graduated with a marketing degree from Reims business school in France and started off in fashion getting experience at John Galliano and Dim & Mexx. Eventually I took a position at the French interior company, Venilia but after a few years in interiors, I decided that my true interest lay in fashion so I left Venilia and went to study a degree in fashion marketing at L’Institut Français de la Mode in Paris.
I had just had two little girls before starting Vestiaire Collective so it just felt like the right time to build my own professional future. I had started exploring a few different opportunities when I read an article in French Elle about recessionistas. The feature explored the phenomenon of fashion bloggers selling their clothes on their sites to fund new purchases. Vestiaire, then, was all about bringing these girls together on a very inspirational platform.
My brother forwarded me the details of one of his friends who was working on the exact same project. I was devastated at first but then I decided it would be interesting to meet them, which eventually lead to use becoming partners. I’ve never looked back since.
I’ve always been very confident about the idea. We spotted the strong potential of the pre-owned fashion market five years ago and we felt it just needed someone to make it more inspirational and trust worthy. We were the first to really bring that to the market and women immediately fell in love with the idea.
I love new challenges but I always need to be completely convinced by an idea before I throw myself into a big new venture. I get bored easily without new personal or professional challenges so I love the adventure of a new project.
The main challenges in growing a business from scratch is coming up with the idea while managing growth. We had to grow the team from 6 to 130 in five years, all while keeping the focus on why we started in the beginning. The second big challenge we found was growing internationally, especially as our brand has a 100 per cent French DNA. We had to open ourselves to new cultures, behaviours and learn along the way.
I always see competition as a good thing. We have at least 3-4 competitors in each of our markets but we’ve always felt that being a market leader is about focusing your energy on innovation within your own model.
Instinct is crucial. I have the DNA of Vestiaire Collective inside me. Sometimes it can be difficult to explain why a decision is right or wrong for the company; it just comes from deep inside. I’m always very attentive to these reactions; they are often very organic and prevent you from loosing your DNA.
I’ve always been surrounded by strong female entrepreneurs starting with my grandmother and mother. Unfortunately, I don’t see my friends as often as I’d like to, but of course when I can catch them for a coffee, we share lessons and ideas with each other. I also really enjoy reading female entrepreneur stories such as Sheryl Sandberg famous ‘Lean In’ Arianna Huffington’s ‘Thrive’, as well as Tamara Mellon memoir and Sophia Amuroso’s ‘Girl Boss’.
Without a team there is no business. My advice would be surround yourself with talented people from the start. When I’m hiring new people I always look for those with an entrepreneurial way of thinking: hard workers, who are passionate and able to take calculated risks. If I see that in a candidate, I know they’re going to be the perfect fit. The Vestiaire culture is all about having a strong passion for what we do. It’s so important for that the whole team jells too because we spend a lot of time with each other both in and outside the office.
Investment is important for any business. Our third round was key to help us grow the business internationally. We had already launched in the UK but we had several other countries to launch in Europe to secure the leader position and we also wanted to have a strong presence in the US. A year and a half later, we now feel we’ve really grown into a strong, global player.
I always explain my schedule and travel plans to my girls; travelling and working long hours are just some of the challenges of being a working mum and I want my girls to understand that. Family is extremely important to me so I try and organise family life in a very structured way, with a daily routine that enables the girls to feel confident, happy and balanced even if I am away for work. I have a live in au pair who helps take care of them when I’m away.
For me, the best way to start the day is with an editor breakfast. I’m still learning about the UK fashion market so I love meeting industry insiders. Afterwards, I join my wonderful London team in Farringdon and tend to spend a lot of my time in meetings with them or on Skype with the French headquarters or Berlin or New York office. I’ve learned to work through my lunch since living in the UK; it seems like a very English habit because we always take a proper break in France. I usually get home around 7.30pm to spend time with my girls before jumping on my laptop to work on my never ending to do list.
I feel that the key is quality and not quantity when you’re juggling a business and being a mum. You can spend your entire day at home without actually giving them your full attention, whereas you can be 100 per cent focused on them 2-3 hours a day.
I often forget to find time for myself. Family and Vestiaire come first. When it’s too much and my body can’t cope, I treat myself with a long spa day or just one day off to catch up with a friend or read a book.
I try to remember that I need to recharge to be able to give to others. I recently realised that my weekends were constantly crowded with cooking, homework and kids parties but nothing for me. Now I set aside an hour every weekend for a home massage and things to help me relax.