Farfetch ramps up bet on content with Gucci collaboration

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
May 31, 2019

Farfetch launched its ‘Farfetch Communities’ initiative earlier this year with content curated by influencers and tastemakers, and now the shopping platform’s latest move involves content created in collaboration with brands.

‘Farfetch and Gucci Open House’ is described by the luxury marketplace as a “an eight-month storytelling content collaboration” that builds on its plan to present richer content to consumers.

The series takes readers into the homes and cities of Gucci fans in eight locations, with influencers from Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and London sharing their fashion and creative inspirations in an intimate way.

“The project sees Farfetch and Gucci go into the homes of its Community to explore how the city and culture around them influences their personal styles looking at each person’s fashion choices in the context of their home and city environments, allowing lovers of Gucci to discover new season pieces from the brand in an entirely new way,” said the luxury shopping e-tailer.

The collaboration is understood to be the first of a series of link-ups with luxury brands to provide original content on the Farfetch website. Gucci seems to be well placed to kickstart the initiative, as the Italian luxury brand has been a direct brand partner to Farfetch since 2017 and the brands have previously teamed up on a series of projects, including the launch of the Farfetch 90-minute delivery service.

“We are thrilled to continue our successful long-standing partnership with Gucci with such a unique collaboration. Farfetch customers from all corners of the world love Gucci and wear its products in so many different and individual ways. Being able to take them on a journey into the homes and cities of our shared Community over the next eight months is inspiring and exciting,” said Giorgio Belloli, chief commercial and sustainability officer at Farfetch.

Farfetch is making a late entry into the content game, running behind rivals like Net-A-Porter (which has The Edit and Porter magazines), and Matchesfashion.com (which offers panel talks, masterclasses and events at its London townhouse).

The first influencers to be featured in the ‘Farfetch and Gucci Open House’ are a Paris-based chef and model called Coralie Jouhier and Lukas Ionesco, an actor and musician whose home is in  Longpont. Art director and owner of Gufram, Charley Vezza; and editor and stylist, Francesca Cefis will follow in the next instalment from Milan. North American, Asian and South American cities and personalities will follow over the course of the collaboration.

Coralie Jouhier, chef and model, said: “I loved being part of the Farfetch and Gucci Open House project. I get my fashion inspiration from everywhere and I love to discover people’s worlds and where their inspirations come from so being able to share my world and my vision was really cool.”

Earlier this year when presenting the new ‘Farfetch Communities’ project Farfetch explained that its community of customers is made up of people who are “united by their love of fashion”, including creatives, industry icons, local style heroes, boutique owners, stylists and people who are shaping the cultural landscape. The retailer is focusing on the diversity and influence of its shoppers to differentiate itself from its rivals whilst betting on content to give customers more reasons to visit its site.