How Vivy Yusof gained an audience
Six years ago, Vivy started her blog Proudduck, which she kept while studying at the London School of Economics. She loved to write and started the online journal to pen her thoughts and experiences as a student abroad.
It wasn’t long before she built a loyal following of readers, comprising mostly young Malaysian women who connected with her wit, humour and aspirational style.
Fast forward to 2010, when Vivy and her then-boyfriend, Fadzarudin Shah Anuar, returned from London. In the Big Smoke, widespread e-commerce meant that everything they wanted was a mere mouse-click away. Coming home, the absence of mainstream online retail was a glaring gap that begged to be filled.
So they set out to try something. Fashion was a clear opportunity for someone with a following of young, style-conscious readers.
“I thought the target was there already,” Vivy says. “My readers are female, in their 20s to 30s, people who can spend and who are fashion-conscious.”
Vivy is overwhelmed by the support she has received from her fans, and says she never imagined that her little blog could grow into the business it is today.
“When I started the blog, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, because I’m going to start FashionValet’. I was so surprised that people actually [wanted to] read what I wanted to write,” she says.
It was this readership that went on to follow Vivy on her social media accounts, including Instagram, where she posts updates on her life, offers sneak previews of FashionValet launches, and regular #OOTDs. Now more than ever, her personal choices have a way of more immediately influencing how people perceive FashionValet.
How Fashion Valet was built
But the couple’s education prepared them for a world away from fashion — she had read law while he had studied aeronautical engineering.
Unable to design, they set out to replicate the multi-label model of popular UK-based online retailer ASOS, where a variety of designer brands are offered under one roof. To differentiate their site from others, they planned to stock local designer labels.
FashionValet made its debut just one month later as Vivy was relentless in making sure that it happened as soon as possible.
Word was that international conglomerates were looking for a slice of the same pie and she was adamant that they would be first in line to take fashion e-commerce mainstream. It was this objective that pushed them to take a leap of faith with no business experience.
When told that website development would take between three and six months, Vivy insisted that the pace be stepped up. “I’m very determined, I’m very pushy. So I was like calling them, ‘No I will help you, I’ll help you code!’” she recalls, giggling. “So, yeah, I’m quite glad that we have pioneer status.”
FashionValet was kick-started with RM100,000 and launched in November 2010 with 10 local brands. Today, what began as a start-up with just Vivy, Fadzarudin and friend Asma Nasarudin now has 30 employees and stocks more than 300 brands from across Southeast Asia.
This year will also see FashionValet’s first profits, after having budgeted for small losses for three years, Vivy says.
In its first year, FashionValet reported revenue of RM705,405 and a net loss of RM12,954, according to filings with the Companies Commission of Malaysia. In 2012, FashionValet’s revenue came in at RM1.21 million, with a net loss of RM166,793.
In between, they managed to secure RM1 million through the second season of reality television show MyEG Make The Pitch, which provided them with much-needed funds to further their marketing plans and expand their customer base.
A large part of FashionValet’s success can be attributed to Vivy, who is the face of her brand in ways a model or celebrity ambassador could never be. Her life as a young woman integrating career, family and motherhood is something many Proudduck readers and FashionValet shoppers identify with.
FashionValet also strikes a chord with many urban young Muslim women as a store that champions new designers while providing an ample selection of modest yet contemporary clothing.
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