FashionFriends
Shopping Club for brand clothes and accessories.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | investor | €0.0 | round |
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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FashionFriends, founded in 2008 by Davide Licini, emerged as an online apparel retailer based in Langenthal, Switzerland. The business operated on a membership-based model, providing exclusive access to its product offerings and pricing to registered members only. The platform curated a wide selection of clothing and accessories from upscale fashion and lifestyle labels, often presenting them through time-limited sales events with significant price reductions, sometimes up to 70%. Its inventory was substantial, claiming to hold around 500,000 products from 3,000 fashion brands in its 120,000 sq m warehouse as of November 2016.
The company's trajectory involved several key strategic shifts and ownership changes. In January 2009, the Swiss media group Tamedia acquired a minority stake, viewing it as an expansion of its e-commerce activities. The founding team also included experienced online investors Klaus Hommels, Oliver Jung, and Peter Schüpbach, who had previously backed successful startups like Skype and Xing. Over time, Tamedia increased its holdings, and FashionFriends became part of Swiss Online Shopping AG, a Tamedia subsidiary that also operated the premium fashion store Stromberg.ch. In a move to refocus its e-commerce strategy on online marketplaces, Tamedia sold Swiss Online Shopping AG in its entirety to the Munich-based fashion company Schustermann & Borenstein on April 1, 2016. This acquisition was part of Schustermann & Borenstein's strategy to strengthen its market position in Switzerland. Following the acquisition, the Stromberg.ch shop was integrated into the FashionFriends platform. The business underwent further consolidation when Schustermann & Borenstein, including its BestSecret subsidiary which had absorbed FashionFriends, was acquired by the Permira investment fund in October 2016.
Keywords: online retailer, apparel, membership e-commerce, Swiss fashion, flash sales, designer brands, accessory sales, lifestyle products, e-commerce acquisition, private shopping club, Tamedia, Schustermann & Borenstein, BestSecret, Davide Licini, Klaus Hommels, Oliver Jung, Peter Schüpbach, European fashion market, online outlet, fashion technology