Net-à-porter founder Natalie Massenet has taken the surprising decision to take up an advisory role at competitor Farfetch. She had left Net-à-porter in September 2016, prior to the merger with Yoox.
Pioneer
Normally, Massenet would have been a director at the new Yoox Net-à-porter Group, but decided to resign. She will now join Farfetch as co-chairman alongside CEO José Neves and her goal is to strengthen the brand: she will be asked to develop new partnerships, which puts her directly in the path of her own creation, Net-à-porter.
“I am happy and honoured to join José and the Farfetch team in constructing a unique vision about the future of fashion and technology”, Massenet said. “When José asked me to join the company, I simply could not let this opportunity pass me by. He is a real inventor and I am thrilled to join him in Farfetch’s development into an exquisite online luxury fashion platform.”
“I have nothing but admiration for Natalie since she launched Net-à-porter. She is a pioneer, paving the way for the rest of us, showing us that luxury not only sells online, but that it is also the customer’s primary connection to brands”, Neves added.
Massenet founded Net-à-porter more than fifteen years ago, but decided to sell all of her shares prior to the Yoox merger, receiving about 130 million euro. Apparently, she decided to leave the company because she had very little say in the business’ editorial approach.
