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Behind The Scenes: Oliver Spencer's innovative SS17 show with Vero & Fearlessly Frank

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For Oliver Spencer and the team behind Vero, Tuesday 20th of September was a momentous day. For the first time in the history of fashion, designs were able to be purchased immediately from the catwalk. And by launching this unique menswear collection at LFW (the predominantly womenswear week) it created something truly out of the ordinary.

We caught up with Ben Little, Co-Founder of Fearlessly Frank, Ayman Hariri, Co-Founder & CEO of Vero, and Oliver himself to get a peek behind the genius that put this fantastic show together.

How did the idea for this partnership between Vero & Oliver Spencer start?

OS: The idea was initially thought up over a bottle of wine, where Ben and Wayne from Fearlessly Frank showed me Vero and I immediately knew I wanted to be involved with the team and the app. The more I learned about Vero, the more I was blown away by the huge potential that this new platform had. From there, I wanted to collaborate to create this retail show for not only press, but also for our customers to give them a truly unique experience.

BL: The partnership came about very naturally. My business partner Wayne and I have been customers of Oli’s for several years now. We caught up with Oli a couple of months ago, showed him Vero and he got very excited by the app and the opportunities it could offer a brand like his to not only connect more meaningfully with fans in a social environment but also to sell product directly from their social feed with Vero’s “Buy Now” functionality. Oli said he wanted to turn his next catwalk show - we were six weeks out here - into a “Buy Now” event so consumers could purchase looks straight from the catwalk on Vero. Six weeks isn’t a huge amount of time to pull something like this together, but the enthusiasm of Oli and his team and their willingness to try something new got us across the line. The show was amazing and hopefully Vero will be an important sales channel for Oli moving forward - the initial response has been fantastic.

AH: The opportunity to create meaningful connections is a big part of what Vero is about – as a social network we have the ability to bring brands and consumers together in a way that other platforms can’t. When we first met with Oliver to discuss the opportunity to run a Buy Now show it was clear we both had similar visions for creating an unbelievable experience that would seamlessly fuse fashion and technology."

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From Left to Right: Ayman Hariri, Oliver Spencer, & Ben Little: Photo courtesy of James Mason, GQ

There are many designers out there, why Oliver Spencer?

BL: We were keen to work with Oli for two reasons. First and foremost, we love the brand and have been customers for years. Second, Oliver Spencer the brand shares a similar outlook to Vero. His clothes are designed and made with exquisite care but are fundamentally useful, every day items that appeal to people who want to stand out from the crowd in a subtle, unshowy way. Oli has taken a considered approach with everything he has done since founding the brand and at Vero we’re trying to do the same. (He’s also a top bloke.)

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What inspired you for this season’s collection? Did the innovation aspect play a role?

OS: Innovation did not necessarily play a key role in the aesthetics of the collection, as it was inspired by music maverick and pioneering drummer, Ginger Baker. However the idea behind the show itself was massively inspired by the innovation of the app. It was a new way for us to interact with our customers, which is only a good thing. So yes, innovation played a key role behind the collection.

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Tell us about your decision to launch this at LFW instead of LCM.

OS: I really wanted to do something different and shake things up. I wanted this show to really stand out and for us to be pioneers in this industry. Also, it was a matter of timing – This is Autumn/Winter and for us to be relevant to our customers, it needed to be truly in season.

How does the buy direct aspect work?

AH: When a merchant is approved for buy-now on Vero, they then create a catalog of purchasable items they wish to post out to their followers. Posting a Buy Now post is as simple as posting a picture from your camera roll. And buying it as simple as two taps thanks to Apple Pay.

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Photo courtesy of James Mason, GQ

How do you think the industry will change now you can buy direct from the catwalk?

OS: The immediacy in ‘See now, Buy now’ is inevitably going to make the industry a lot more fast paced and I think collections will have to be made a lot more wearable. Collections will have to be relevant to the season that they will be shown.

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Photo courtesy of James Mason, GQ

What makes VERO different from other social media platforms?

AH: On other social networks, people refer to each other as friends or followers which flattens all relationships into a one size fits all. Vero asks you to set your connections into different degrees of intimacy. This helps you decide whether you'd like to share an intimate moment or public moment. We are ad free. We will always be ad free. Once we hit a critical mass, NEW users from that point will be charged a small payment per year to continue using the app. Any users who sign in between now and then will always have access to Vero free as a thank you from us.

OS: I like Vero because it’s innovative and designed to emulate real-life relationships to give users total control of what they share and with whom, which other platforms don’t give you the option to do. The ‘Buy Now’ feature also incorporates in-app buying with Apple Pay, which is a first for social media apps.

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Photo courtesy of James Mason, GQ

How are you overcoming the challenges of launching a social business in a saturated market?

BL: It is certainly true that social media is a saturated market, but there are three factors which we believe are working in our favour. The first is timing. Any major industry goes through a series of changes and I feel we are leaving the first iteration of social platforms behind and are moving into the next generation that will combine the immediacy and great content we’ve come to expect but also offer a quality experience - something that is at the heart of the Vero offering.

The second key advantage we have is the product itself. Unlike some of our competitors, Vero hasn’t been launched as a minimum viable product - it’s been two years in design and development and Ayman Hariri and his team have put just as much thought into what not to put into the app as what has gone into it, and they have designed a product that is not only a joy to use but which gets more useful the more you use it. Lastly, we are taking a different route to market. As an ad-free platform, we are not taking a conventional marketing approach - we are telling our story through the content we create and the partnerships we have with forward-thinking, like-minded brands like Oliver Spencer. We feel that this is the sincerest and effective way of introducing Vero to people. When all is said and done however, it comes down to product and Ayman and his team have built something that is not only beautifully designed and truly useful but which offers social commerce in an ad-free environment where the user is treated well. Ultimately, that’s why we are confident Vero will find a large audience.

AH: We are inevitably competing in an incredibly crowded space – social media is now a huge market which will always make bringing out something new tough. However, we believe that having an app that performs brilliantly and gives consumers something different is the key to success. A slick interface, a totally ad-free feed and exceptional data protection gives users peace of mind, while a simple categorising process allows consumers to decide if a contact is a ‘Close Friend, Friend or Acquaintance’ – putting them in control of what they share.  We are catering to a new generation that doesn’t necessarily want to broadcast update, but wants to tailor what they share with groups that echo their everyday relationships – there is simply no other app on the market that does this so seamlessly.

Do you have any advice for upcoming designers?

OS: Be passionate and true to what you believe and don’t be afraid of hard work.

To find out more on Vero, download it here now.

 

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