This article is part of our new editorial package, The Future of Shopping, in which we predict how the retail landscape will be shaped over the next decade. Click here to read more.
Erin Deering is a busy 39-year-old mother of four and an entrepreneur, who founded multi-million-dollar swimwear label Triangl in 2012, before exiting five years ago to plan her next venture. While living in Monaco in 2018, she couldn’t find luxury fashion in local boutiques that aligned with her personal style. She was looking for some Hermès Oran sandals. And she “didn’t have time” to fly to London or Paris weekly to purchase them.
Enter Gab Waller, whose eponymous fashion sourcing business has helped Deering and thousands of other high-net-worth customers, find sold-out, hyper-exclusive or trending luxury pieces from brands like Hermès, Schiaparelli, Chanel or Prada in recent years. Waller is part of a new generation of fashion sourcers, who offer a fresh, hyper-personalised retail model for luxury’s top spenders. They go far beyond the in-store personal shopper who offers current stock from a luxury boutique; instead providing almost 24-hour, one-stop-shop luxury retail, with virtually no limits, all via Whatsapp or Instagram DM.
Deering uses Waller for 20 per cent of her luxury purchases, when she “really needs a special piece”, alongside luxury boutiques and multi-brand stores. “Utilising Gab’s services brings a sense of security and simplicity, given her extensive network and ability to scour the globe on my behalf,” she says. “It’s reassuring to know that Gab can secure rare pieces, particularly those about to be released and likely to sell out quickly.”
The current luxury climate is lending itself to this new retail model. Brands and retailers alike are shooting for the ultra-high-net-worth consumer, whose spending is unaffected by the uncertain economic climate. “Top-end consumers are now 2 per cent of total luxury consumers in the world, but they represent 40 per cent of the market and growing,” says Federica Levato, partner at consultancy Bain Company. Tutored on social media, these shoppers are more knowledgeable than ever about luxury labels, new releases, limited editions and the latest luxury collabs. At the same time, it’s becoming harder to buy into some of luxury’s most in-demand brands. From Chanel ballerinas to Birkin bags, wealthy shoppers are finding it harder to get their hands on fashion’s most-coveted pieces. But for those with cash to splash, fashion sourcers offer a solution to luxury’s rising restrictions.
“In general, luxury has become a bit more democratic, so high-end shoppers are looking for a more rarefied, special experience that is set apart from the more mainstream part of the market,” says Neil Saunders, managing director of retail at intelligence firm Globaldata. “This includes access to exclusive lines and very personalised and quick service.”
Levi Pastor, co-founder of fashion sourcing business Pastor Co, explains how it works. “If you’re someone of high net worth and you travel by private jet, you have yachts and multiple homes, you’re running a business and you have a family, you’re too stretched to buy your favourite watch, to buy the kids new sneakers and your wife a new limited-edition car,” he says. “That’s where we come in. We can offer virtually anything, unless the item is one of one and the owner doesn’t wish to sell.”
Pastor Co is based in both London and Dubai. Launched in 2021, it operates worldwide with a particular focus on Europe and the Middle East. Alongside fashion (led by leather goods and sneakers), the company can source “pretty much anything” in the luxury sphere, from watches and fine art to yachts, jets and cars, say co-founders Levi and Solomon Pastor. They charge commission on purchases and typically serve clients who want to shop across categories in one fell swoop. Requests might range from a £350 pair of Yeezys to a £70 million painting.
“If you just missed a drop, we can easily get that. Or if you want to find something where there’s only eight in the world, we can try and get that too,” says Solomon.
Top-end customers: Need for speed (and not waiting in line)
Waller made her name sourcing luxury items for celebrities such as Sofia Richie Grainge and Hailey Bieber. But she started out in Sydney in June 2018, sourcing pieces internationally for Australian clients with limited access to luxury boutiques. Six months in, she began receiving requests from the US and the Middle East and realised her services had wider potential. Covid accelerated the growth of her business, even after lockdowns when lines outside designer stores deterred potential top-end customers. In 2021, Waller moved to Los Angeles, where she employed a team of 16. Her business grew 152 per cent from 2022 to 2023.
Waller is keen to point out the differences between fashion sourcing and personal shopping, the latter being typical in luxury department stores and boutiques, focusing on current stock and styling advice. Sophisticated fashion sourcing businesses on the other hand operate with a network of sourcers across the world, who cultivate good relationships with luxury boutiques and store assistants. When a request comes in, they seek to source the product either with the brands directly via scores of boutiques, or multi-brand stores in different locations. Some may also approach private sellers or dealers for high-value goods that aren’t available in the primary market.
Luxury becomes more exclusive, demand is sky high
Access to premium products is becoming harder, as luxury brands like Chanel and Hermès tighten their hold over distribution to maintain exclusivity and prestige amid mass luxury democratisation. “I think some of the issues that clients are facing today in stores didn’t really exist when I started,” says Waller. “My clients have money to spend and they want to spend it. Back then, you could obtain pieces easier, but now clients are hitting restrictions and new policies with the brands directly. Truthfully, I think they’re a little tired of it.”
Hermès was sued in California last month after LA residents Tina Cavalleri and Mark Glinoga accused the company of gatekeeping its Birkin bag unless customers bought a series of other products (such as scarves or shoes) — the pair claims this violates antitrust laws. Sourcers explain that many brands have similar unspoken processes, permitting only the most loyal customers or those with deep store assistant relationships to access the most-coveted products. These practices are boosting business for sourcers — fashion sourcer Martina Harts notes that 70 per cent of requests are for Chanel.
Store assistants also chop and change frequently, meaning that even clients with relationships are running into issues if they haven’t purchased in a while, says Pastor. “We’re exclusive but we don’t exclude anyone. The rich and the wealthy are getting younger and younger and younger, especially post pandemic. There’s a lot of new wealth in the world [that brands miss out on].”
Harts launched her business, FOMO Call, in Copenhagen last year. She now works with 18 sourcers across London, New York, Sydney, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Berlin, Frankfurt, Milan, Paris and Brussels, each with strong relationships with luxury boutiques and store assistants. FOMO Call turned over €10 million in the last 12 months, she says. “My customers are time-poor. They don’t want to wait outside Chanel, stay in the line outside if they don’t have an appointment. In cities like Copenhagen there are only one or two Chanel stores. Instead of getting a plane to Paris, they pay my €250 flat fee and let me do the job.”
Verinha Glenting is a 50-year-old senior project manager at a pharmaceutical company who has always shopped luxury, but prefers the choice and freedom of shopping online. She’s turned to Harts over the last year. “I love ballerinas from Chanel, and they never have my size in Denmark. And you can’t buy them online. So I reached out to Martina and she got me some within a week,” she says. “It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s exciting. If I got a flight to Paris I’m sure I could go and get my ballerinas, but instead I can do it on Whatsapp straight to my home.”
Fashion sourcers don’t stock product, so their recommendations can be much more imaginative and unbiased than personal shoppers with inventory to shift and commission to attain, says Solomon Pastor. “We source a lot of regional exclusives. For example, if a client is in Kuwait and they want a Cartier watch that’s a China exclusive, we have sourcers in China who can get that watch from Cartier,” adds Levi Pastor. “The Cartier boutiques in the Gulf wouldn’t do that.”
Waller and Harts say the US is their biggest market, followed by Europe, then China. Typically, customers are high-net-worth millennials, but they are gradually skewing younger. “I thought in the beginning my clients would only be the richest people who can afford luxury,” says Harts. “But actually, since Adidas made the Grace Wales Bonner sneakers and since the Alaïa [ballet flats] have boomed, my consumer base has changed,” she says. “It can also be a student that saved up for these Alaïa [shoes] but can’t get them in store.”
Gen Zs sometimes don’t want to shop in stores because they feel intimidated by luxury boutiques. For brands like Chanel that have limited e-commerce, it can be impossible for young people to buy. “A customer is a 21-year-old girl that’s buying her first Chanel bag,” Waller says. “And she’s saved up for it and she’s wishing to secure it, but if she went into the store, they wouldn’t offer it to her. So she DMs me.”
Trends pose a challenge
When multiple clients ask for the same product at once, the lack of inventory can be a challenge, sourcers agree. That’s why they try to pre-empt trends to prepare their sourcer network. Harts posted the Miu Miu sneakers on her story a week before they launched, gauging interest from customers. “We pre-ordered 300 pairs. And I would never have gotten those sneakers if we didn’t do that. My customers wouldn’t have either.”
Waller also analyses requests to determine demand for certain brands and styles, so she can make sure she’s ready. Currently, Miu Miu is spiking, led by the Miu Miu x New Balance collaboration sneakers, she says.
“A lot of clients do request the same items, because I work with high-trending styles,” says Waller. “I can find one bag easily, but when I need like 20 Margaux bags from The Row, that’s when the real challenge begins.”
As the fashion sourcing market matures, founders are trying to educate consumers, brands and retailers as to how it works. “People still have a lot of questions, so educating the industry and the consumer is important this year,” Waller says.
“There’s a trust factor involved in what we do. You have to learn how to speak to clients in a different way because you’re not just showing a client a physical product,” says Solomon Pastor.
Some luxury retailers appreciate the potential of partnering with fashion sourcers themselves. Middle Eastern retail group Chalhoub Group has acquired a majority stake in personal shopping and fashion sourcing platform Threads Styling, while Pastor Co previously sourced for Farfetch’s personal shopping team and is imminently signing a deal with Dubai-based retailer Ounass to white label its services for the retailer’s top-spending clients.
Looking ahead, we can expect retailers to up the ante by servicing top-end customers with the round-the-clock, global service these businesses can provide. “I expect to see more brands engaging with the luxury fashion sourcers,” says Bain’s Levato. And brands won’t get in their way. “They aren’t in competition because [ultimately] the sourcers buy the brands.”
In the future, Pastor Co can see sourcers plugging in to luxury hospitality and partnering with top hotels, again circumventing the store. “A lot of our clients go to stay at the same chain of hotels, whether it’s the St Regis or Atlantis Royal in Dubai,” Levi Pastor says. “They might want their favourite candle when they arrive, it might be their son’s birthday and they need a gift, or they saw some sneakers they want to wear when they arrive. It’s the little details that matter. And that’s why what we do is the future for the ultra-high net worth.”
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