The founder of clothing site Farfetch has been capitalising on his love of fashion and technology for almost 20 years and has set his sights on further expansion in the US.

José Neves

Fashion entrepreneur José Neves’ mission statement when founding online designer fashion site Farfetch in 2008 was to “create a world class infrastructure supported by a top-notch team”.

Last week the Portuguese national blew the ink dry on a significant hiring bolstering the latter objective. His new chief marketing officer, Stephanie Horton, drafted in from online boutique Shopbop, previously held directorships with Vogue and The New York Times.

Neves hopes Horton’s print prowess will translate online and complement recent hires Roopal Patel, brought in from luxury etailer Moda Operandi to expand the retailer’s presence in the US, and former Neiman Marcus executive Gabrielle de Papp, now senior vice-president of US brand development at Farfetch.

Neves himself has a wardrobe full of fashion experience. Born and bred in the clothing hub of Porto, he was keen to follow in the footsteps of his shoe designer and manufacturer grandfather and began his career as a fashion technology programmer.

Speaking to Retail Week from Brazil, Neves said: “Once I started to discover the modus operandi of fashion, I thought ‘this is exciting, and I actually think I could do this’.”

He founded his first start-up in 1995, designing footwear line Swear’s first collection and opening a store in Covent Garden the following year. He then launched men’s fashion specialist B Store in 2001.

A keen traveller, Neves was determined to extend his reach across the globe. He launched footwear licensing and wholesale operation Six London, supplying more than 600 etailers worldwide with product from New York’s Opening Ceremony, Australia’s Ksubi and Paris-based Surface to Air, as well as B Store and Swear.

But it is Neves’ work on Farfetch that has caught the industry’s eye, and ecommerce players are watching the business’ development carefully.

“I was always a believer in the internet as a disruptive force. Swear was one of the first brands in the world to have an ecommerce site. Believe it or not, in 1997,” he explains.

“We used to collect credit cards via a secure connection, however we had to key them in at the point-of-sale of the store as we were too small to have a proper merchant facility. But it was successful.”

Founded on what Neves describes as a “third model”, Farfetch is neither retailer nor marketplace, instead allowing 250 independent footwear and fashion specialists to trade online with technology and logistics fulfilled by Farfetch.

Farfetch’s team of buyers has become increasingly powerful. The site notches up 4.3 million visits a month and has an eye-watering average order of $638 (£409). Peter Jensen and Marc by Marc Jacobs are among the 2,000 brands sold, and Farfetch’s best customer has spent $320,000 (£205,000) in 280 orders since the site launched in 2008.

The site generated sales of $129m (£82.8m) last year.

“The modus operandi is simple,” explains Neves. “Make it absolutely dead simple to the boutiques. They do what they love and know best - curating the most amazing fashion products and scouting new talent around the world. We do the rest. All the hundreds of steps and métiers related to ecommerce are handled by us. From photography, video and post-production, logistics, localised payments and fraud control, customer service, online marketing and, of course, technology.”

Neves describes the business as a “multichannel etail network”. The UK and US represent 35% of Farfetch’s sales - the business bolstered its US expansion with the opening of a New York office last month - and it now has a strong presence in the Far East and Australia.

Growth has caught the eye of investors and in March Neves pulled off a deal with publisher Condé Nast International.

The $20m (£12.8m) investment, which was also backed by venture capital funds Advent Venture Partners, Index Ventures and E.ventures, has given Farfetch the resources to enter more markets and allowed the publisher to access the etailer’s customers.

Neves has four children and combines a punishing daily gym training regime with his work commitments. He says of Farfetch: “Our true ambition is to change the way the world shops for fashion, and by doing that make fashion more exciting, creative and diverse.”

Neves harbours lofty ambitions but on his form so far the footwear magnate has his boots laced up for the challenge.

Career history

2008 Founder and chief executive, Farfetch

2001 Founder, B Store

1995 Founder, Swea