Farfetch And Manolo Blahnik Launch Online

Farfetch has revealed that it has partnered with Manolo Blahnik to launch the footwear label's first e-commerce platform, which will sell the brand's entire men's and womenswear collections as of today.

The collaboration is the first online destination to be created by Farfetch's new Farfetch Black and White business, a new arm of the brand that was set up late last year to give the e-tailer the capacity to support monobrand online platforms. In doing so it can offer luxury brands access to its technological advances (such as customer support, click and collect, international payments and return in-store options) within an independent environment.

"Customers shop in monobrand stores as well as multibrand stores," Farfetch founder and owner Jose Neves told WWD. "It's a bit like in the real world. The type of experience is different, but both are complementary."

The move is the latest in a string of expansion announcements from the brand,which acquired Browns Fashion last year, with more (as yet undisclosed) monobrand platforms set to launch later this year.

"We do not look at this in terms of share of the overall business," said Neves. "We look at it as a holistic answer to the question, 'How will people shop for luxury fashion in five years?' We think it's going to be multibrand online - hence Farfetch.com and BrownsFashion.com - but also monobrand online - hence Farfetch Black & White. But it will also be in-store and this is why we invested in Browns and we have created a retail business unit for continuous tech innovation."