Vetements' CEO Guram Gvasalia on Plans to Open E-Commerce and What Social Media Means to the Label

In a recent interview, Vetements‘ Chief Executive Officer Guram Gvasalia shed light on just how he and his brother have managed to build a fashion empire in barely three years. The always analytical and business-focused Gvasalia brother notes that the label will be moving its operations from Paris to Zurich and will continue its trend of collaborations with a big surprise at the Vetements show in July. Additionally, the CEO touches on how Vetements has no plans to launch an e-commerce site or a physical store, what social media means to the label and how he pays his brother Demna exactly the same amount he earns at Balenciaga. Read an excerpt from the interview below and check out the full piece here.

WWD: Is Vetements considering its own e-commerce site?
G.G.: Regarding our direct e-commerce, we’re very loyal people and most of these online stores, they helped us to build this company. And it feels wrong to go there and take a piece of their pie away.

My top five e-stores represent about half of my business. The dimensions of the orders and the dimensions of the merchandise you can sell online, it’s insane. The main stores are in big cities and now there are so many people outside of main cities that are starting to be aware of fashion.

WWD: And what about a physical store, would you consider that?
G.G.: The biggest problem to have your own store is that you always need to have stock in your store. It means that you need to oversaturate to buy, and whether you want it or not in order for the store to represent the brand, you will go on sale. Because you will have to buy more than you actually need. And this goes against our strategy.

So I think if you’re a piano player, you should play piano. I think it’s best for us to invest our energy in creating the product, and understanding the environment, being ahead and coming up with good things, and not to involve ourselves in the retail business. Because this means you will need to grow in terms of people, you will need to grow in terms of investment, and it means changing the strategy. And I’m not sure if I want to have this huge company who doesn’t have an overview of what’s happening in it. I still want to keep the size where we can have the overview, that’s very important.

WWD: How do you account for the power of social media?
G.G.: Today, because everything moves so fast, no one wants to think long-term. They buy a hoodie, they put it on, they take a selfie and put it on Instagram and it brings them closer to a certain group of people and they feel a sense of belonging. This is what the world is looking for. Before it was religion, and the brands are sort of replacing it, even if it’s sad to say that. Look at Apple basing its entire structure on the idea of belonging.