Farfetch’s José Neves: The Delivery Man

There’s still a few more months left in 2015, but it’s already been quite a year for José Neves, the founder and CEO of the revolutionary luxury fashion e-tailer Farfetch. In March, the 7-year-old site that was created so independent boutiques could compete with the leaders of fashion e-commerce became a rare fashion ‘unicorn’ when it reached a $1 billion valuation. Last spring, Farfetch launched a dedicated menswear homepage and bought Browns, an iconic London fashion boutique, to use as an incubator for retail technology. Farfetch takes another step in the right direction on Oct. 14 with the debut of MYSWEAR, a collaboration with Neves’s footwear company, SWEAR, that will allow a customer to play a designer by experimenting with 3D technology to create their own fully customizable bespoke footwear. Clients will be able to choose from 16 different silhouettes and more than 80 combinations of the finest materials—from sumptuous Nappa leathers, suedes and metallics to ethically-sourced exotic skins, such as python, ostrich and crocodile—and fresh colorways. The shoes are then handmade in Portugal, using traditional artisanal craftsmanship, and delivered within four to six weeks. We caught up with the Portuguese pioneer to talk about Farfetch, which launched in 2008 with 25 boutiques in five countries, and has since grown to more than 300 of the world’s best independent designer boutiques, from Paris, New York and Milan to Bucharest, Kuwait and Tokyo, offering customers more than 100,000 pieces from 1,000 brands. His start-up idea was anything but farfetched.