- María Lantero
Lucy Yeomans, the former director of Mr Porter, Net-a-Porter.com and Harper's Bazaar UK , is the creator of Drest, the first luxury RVR platform (real-virtual-real: originally referring to real, virtually produced items that can then be purchased in reality). A project that she founded in 2019: pioneering, versatile and laudable focused on gamification, shopping, creativity, content and entertainment.
Today, this game already has more than 200 brands, including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Prada, Off-White, Loewe, Chloé, Breitling, Thom Browne, Burberry, McCartney and Fenty. The game consists of connecting brands with their customers by inviting them to create their own fashion outfits. All the fashion that is offered during "the game" is provided directly by the brands themselves or by the luxury online sales platform Farfetch, allowing the user to end up buying the products used in their outfits a posteriori.
The Drest team has featured some of the most innovative and exciting women in fashion as avatars of the game: Natalia Vodianova, Precious Lee, Irina Shayk, Imaan Hammam and Candice Huffine. Furthermore, all of them, being supporters of various charities, have agreed with the company to match 50% of the income they make in the game and donate it to their respective causes. And as if that were not enough, Drest has had Sam McKnight and Mary Greenwell for hair and makeup for the top models.
From Status, we interview Drest pioneer and CEO, Lucy Yeomans.
How did the business idea for Drest come about?
I started thinking about fashion and gaming about ten years ago, at a time when FarmVille posts were littering my Facebook feed. I remember thinking how cool it would be if the theme of the games was related to fashion, something that interested me as well as millions of fashion lovers around the world. It was also a time when people showed a real desire to learn about the fashion industry and what goes on behind the scenes through movies, TV documentaries, and dramas like The September Issue, The Devil Wears Prada, and Betty. the ugly. Having enjoyed incredible access to the world of luxury fashion through my work as a magazine editor, I kept thinking, "Wouldn't it be amazing to give everyone all the tools a fashion stylist has? Clothes, the amazing models, hair and makeup. As well as the dream locations, and could games provide a way for people to express themselves and create their own fashion stories?" At the time, I didn't think the fashion industry luxury fashion was ready to embrace gaming as audience perception was far removed from who they wanted to target, but the rise of mobile has changed that, and today more women than men are gaming on mobile .
Did you find any need in the market to decide that this type of business was necessary? What market needs does the company cover?
During my time as a Director at Harper's Bazaar and Porter, I always had a strong focus on being on my reader's side and at Net-a-Porter on my customer's side. I also spent many years listening to the frustrations and desires of both the audience and the brands, both wanting to get closer to each other, and I was eager to find a way to respond. Luxury fashion houses and designers were increasingly asking for new ideas that would allow them to connect with the new generations that were coming and I believed that video games were a way to marry all this, that there was a great business opportunity that could provide amazing solutions to the fashion industry and enable its messages to be delivered in a fun, highly interactive, inclusive and sustainable way. Drest is a complex converged platform that brings together various media models including gaming and in-app purchases, a hyper-affiliate model, and strategic brand partnerships. It takes user-generated storytelling to a whole new level and democratizes the luxury fashion experience, creating a fun and interactive shopping experience.
What kind of consumer and customer are you targeting?
Our audience consists of fashionistas from all over the world, most of them in the US and UK. There has been a huge shift in gaming demographics with 63% of mobile gamers now being women and this is reflected in our user base as well. About 60% of our DREST stylists are between the ages of 21-39 and 82% are women. DREST is designed for anyone who has a mobile phone and likes fashion; it is a place where people can discover the world of luxury fashion, be inspired and also inspire others through their own creativity.
Will the actions be carried out offline or will they always have an online connotation?
When it comes to younger generations, the physical and digital worlds are becoming increasingly blurry. We chose to build a RVR (Real Virtual Real) platform and give users the best of both worlds. It is the virtual aspect that allows us to do so much, promising highly interactive connections between brands and users, sustainable digital content creation, and the democratization of luxury fashion, giving everyone the opportunity to discover and “buy” a brand. The "real" is what creates impact and purpose. We recreate real fashion products as they hit stores, supermodel talent and a host of global locations digitally and our daily Photoshoot and Mood Board challenges are created in response to real-time lifestyle news.
We also offer an end-to-end shopping experience through our strategic partnership with Farfetch and other luxury brands, which means our users can seamlessly make real-life purchases on any of the fashion items they have designed and competed with in the game. We have also set out to use our platform as a force for good and to make philanthropy at the very core of our game. Our supermodels use their voices to advocate and raise awareness on important issues: Natalia Vodianova, Precious Lee, Irina Shayk, Imaan Hammam and Candice Huffine are all charitable figures and we have pledged to match 50% of the proceeds earned by them in-game and donate this to their respective causes.
In addition to the technology implemented so far, will we see new technologies in the near future?
A game-changing technological moment on our roadmap is the launch of the "Selfie" avatar scheduled for next year. This will mean that people everywhere can appear as themselves in Drest, something that is important for Gen Z in particular, and we hope will be key to combating some of the sustainability issues facing the fashion industry. Drest encourages thoughtful consumerism as people can "design before you buy" and will be able to use the "Selfie" Avatar as a way to access their own virtual wardrobe with a simple tap. We are also a data business, so brands are interested in using our platform to test products virtually and also find out which styles and colors resonate best with certain regions and therefore scale their production accordingly.
What experiences does Drest offer as opposed to the conventional e-commerce or physical shopping experience?
Drest opens up the world of luxury fashion to everyone – providing a level playing field where people can discover and design products virtually and quench their desire for novelty in a sustainable way. Unlike social media, our users don't feel pressure to emulate their virtual life in real life and the "game" element results in deeper learning and engagement. We can also upload products on a large scale so that users have direct access to thousands of fashion items that can be designed infinitely; We know this is a great benefit for buyers who are always interested in seeing all the different ways they can style or wear a certain piece.
What factors do you think have encouraged brands to become part of this project?
Our engaged users spend an average of 33 minutes per day in the app and seven minutes per session fully immersed in fashion – these are stats I could only have dreamed of in my previous roles in eCommerce and publishing. Drest offers brand partners the next great frontier for marketing and incubating the luxury consumers of the future, rooted in deep, iterative machine learning and understanding. Native content is key – custom challenges are created for our brand partners and the video format plays a big role as we reward users who watch them in their entirety with in-game currency. We recently asked our audience if they'd like to see more brand partnerships and a mighty 96% said yes, so we're continually looking for ways to push the envelope: In December of last year, we announced our first-ever entertainment partnership with Warner Bros. to Wonder Woman 1984. For a partner looking to appeal to an audience that loves fashion, Drest offers a new platform to tell a brand's story and encourages users to discover and interact with products in a fun, immersive and unique way.
What is your goal? How do you see the company in the medium-long term?
Our roadmap is packed with new features, including new challenge modes for beauty, fine jewelry, and watches, and we'll be announcing partnerships for each of these categories throughout the year. We will introduce new talents to the game and allow everyone to appear as their own avatar. Our future plans also include donating five percent of every in-game microtransaction to a group of causes that support representation, digital responsibility, mental health, body positivity, and female empowerment.
You sell directly through brands and Farfetch, do you plan to expand these partnerships with other platforms or new types of eCommerce applications?
We currently stock over 200 luxury brands, including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Prada, Off-White, Loewe, Chloé, Thom Browne, Burberry and Stella McCartney, with Farfetch providing the majority of our digital fashion range. We celebrated our first watch partnership with Breitling last month and have plans to expand into high jewelry and beauty later this year. We plan to work closely with all of our partners on ways to further enrich and advance the luxury eCommerce experience to better serve audiences.
