How do you print labels? It felt antithetical to the job of making sure product is sold. Those photos are an endless source of longing for Ssense customers. Arriving in Montreal was a complete culture shock for Atallah. BUSINESS OF FASHION | CHRISTOPHER MORENCY & BRIAN BASKIN. The expansion only puts more pressure on Ssense to stock up on clothing consumers desire, wherever they are in the world. Its corporate headquarters are in Montreals sleepy garment district, far from the major fashion capitals of the world. This is very cutting-edge luxury, people who really have a point of view and are not afraid of making mistakes if theyre wearing something that is a little out there, she says. Like: How do you Photoshop? For Atallah, the investment in editorial was another strategic attempt to stand out from competitors. Its not about showing off but rather about being an individual with a unique identity who doesnt require the use of attention getters to have value as an interesting human being and part of society. Angelica Cheung, the founder of Vogue China and a partner at Sequoia, helped lead the investment and has recently joined the Ssense board of directors. But hitting ten figures wont be easy. It was a bit narrow-minded, he said. Theyre an honest and reputable company. As one of the brothers put it, its about the death of ego in fashion sales.

Even today, hes loath to admit any degree of insider influence, preferring instead to refer to himself and his team as expert outsiders. Its a mind-set he maintains, in part, by rarely hiring talent away from competitors. It didnt exactly surprise us, Mr. Atallah said recently at Ssenses mammoth five-story retail store in the touristy Old Port neighborhood of Montreal. Theyre not trying to be everything for everyone.. The first thing you see on the Ssense website is not actually clothing for sale. The approach is more expensive, Atallah says, but it helps establish an identity. We need to raise customers expectations and blow peoples minds.. Using editorial to create an essence. He built Ssense in the early 2000s as part of his graduate thesis in computer engineering. Long before designers like Virgil Abloh, Demna Gvasalia and Matthew Williams became superstar stewards of some of the oldest luxury houses in fashion, Ssense was selling their debut collections. Having discovered that high margins could be made selling designer brands like Diesel, Mr. Atallah asked his father for a small loan and enlisted his two brothers to join the operation. Ssense said that its most immediate use for that investment was filling more than 400 new jobs within the next year.

At one point, I was the photographer. Farfetchmoved $800 million worth of merchandise in 2016, and may ride its Store of the Future retail technology platform to a $5 billion initial public offering later this year. They are less sensitive to the concept of value for money and more attracted to products and brands that speak to them, she wrote. MONTRAL, Canada For a would-be luxury retail mecca,Ssenses new flagship doesnt stock many clothes. Ssense quickly published an apology for the distress it had caused, and Mr. Atallah issued a measured mea culpa in an interview with Business of Fashion at that time: I didnt realize the intensity of the relationships being formed on the platform, he said. The first move will be to set up a local distribution centre in the next year or two in order to offer faster shipping, lower costs and better customer service. When you talk about a story that doesnt relate to product and you try to shoehorn the product in, its not authentic, Atallah said. They have a very particular eye when it comes to their casting and lighting and styling, she said. They had ideas. Ssense is a brand with its own attitude. clothes shoes accessories followers The Ssense retail store in the Old Port neighborhood of Montreal. They offer interesting points of view that intrigue and inform their fans and customers. The space is designed for maximum flexibility; on Thursday, the building was given over to a launch party that featured the performance artist Arca diving into a pink-hued pool. The sites users learned of the deal when they were redirected to Ssenses homepage, where a popup displayed the message Polyvore is now Ssense. Users rebelled, with over 16,000 signing an online petition to bring the site back, and flooding third-party rating sites like Sitejabber with one-star reviews of Ssense. How do you ship it? Where does one wear an $11,000 green shearling robe? Thats just fine with Atallahhe has hip young customers in 150 countries and is about to go big in China. No one smiles. Its a long way from the single warehouse and small boutique near its Montral headquarters that the company operates today. It isnt about prestige as much as its about looking fashionable and being yourself without the need to identify yourself with a particular brand or elite status in that way. Never heard of it? He oversees 1,300 employees spread across North America and Europe, alongside his brothers, Firas, 41, the companys chief governance officer, and Bassel, 37, its chief operations officer. They first established the business in 2003 with the headquarters located in Montreal, Canada. Ssense styles complete outfits, including hair and makeup, and the final presentation is more akin to a fashion magazine than an online retailer. The buildings floors, walls and ceilings are pockmarked with hundreds of convertible sockets, making everything in the store from displays to lighting interchangeable. And unlike many of its competitors, Atallah says Ssense has been profitable from day one and hasnt raised outside investment. Atallah, however, claims Ssense has been profitable for years, owing to monastic financial discipline.

And should one pair it with the $930 matching gloves that resemble yeti paws? Some of Ssenses innovations can be seen inside its 115,000-square-foot offices that are tucked into two floors inside a drab office building on the rue Chabanel. Its all about low key fashion in all its purity. Atallah told him about Ssense and how consumers were eager to buy luxury fashion online. Private equity firms have knocked on its doors in the past, but Atallah was never interested in funding. The interior is encased in custom-made sandblasted concrete in a dark grey shade, and even the pandemic-era touches are refined: Hand sanitizer at the front door is completely hidden inside a sleek metallic pillar. Its an imposing place for someone whose wardrobe is mostly from Gap (i.e., me). The goal is to replicate the Montral store model in other cities, with each location tailored to local tastes. The Chase Sapphire Preferred Vs. Reserve: Which Is Better? Firas, the oldest brother, recalled that as teenagers they were already bristling against the conforming pressures of that society. This is a story about immigrants with zero experience or knowledge about fashion, having to learn everything from scratch, Mr. Atallah said one recent morning as he sat in a quiet nook of his retail store. Geographically speaking, it does in a sense. Guest and Haber, in turn, came up with a basics collection called ABC 123, consisting of hoodies, sweatshirts and sweatpants. Online, customers choose clothing they want to try on, and everything is shipped from the companys distribution centre nearby. Atallah and other executives said their approach is supported by reams of customer data, which informs decisions ranging from what products to stock to which editorial features to display on the homepage. SSENSE promotes dressing fashionably without ascribing a value to the name on the tag. For those of you who are new to SSENSE, there is a lot to catch up on so here are 5 things that you didnt know about SSENSE. Though Mr. Atallah was an under-14 tennis champion in Syria, whose first ambition was to play at Roland-Garros, his future may have been set when his tennis coach first explained the internet to him. Ssense is still privately held by Mr. Atallah and his brothers, so little financial information about the company has been shared publicly. Editorial is a vehicle for us to expose our ideas and our thinking, Atallah says. That was in addition to handling customer service, warehouse picking and packing, he said of his workload during the companys early first years.

Its that unique combination of their buy that gives them that edge which I would largely attribute their success to, says David Fischer, founder and chief executive of youth culture title Highsnobiety. Would you like a certainbrand to get featured? He later enrolled in computer engineering at Polytechnique Montral while building a side hustlebuying menswear from stores and flipping the clothing online. Each year, Report on Business magazine recognizes five business leaders who have made outstanding contributions to Canada. When he was 15, his family left Syria for Montreal, in part because his parents wanted to ensure the kids received a decent education and were spared mandatory military service. There have been a few public missteps by the company. They already have a huge group of young followers in China who will be so excited once Ssense enters China properly, Cheung wrote over email. If you blend, you get mush. Were only investing what were making, which makes our business a lot more robust.. Mr. Atallahs willingness to experiment with hiring people who lack fashion experience has reportedly led to high turnover among its management team. Already on the calendar are events staged by designers such as Abloh,Craig Greenand Grace Wales Bonner, with plans for happenings such as book clubs, record launches and meditation sessions. Atallah clinched the deal. If you have not yet heard of SSENSE, then youre in the right place. While thats likely to bring in more mainstream shoppers, Ssense also risks alienating its original customer who comes to the platform to discover "in-the-know" brands instead of commercial labels. Ssense appears to operate in a world of its own design. The following year it moved into its first headquarters and warehouse, with ssense.com launching in 2006. Ssense launched a Japanese version of its site in 2016, followed by simplified Chinese and Korean versions. insta One of his first sights was a row of strip clubs on Sainte-Catherine Street. Disclosure: Christopher Morency and Brian Baskin travelled to Montral as guests of Ssense. Rami has a very clear-cut vision for how things should be, he said. The first month, he made $15,000.

He doesnt like to describe their clothing as streetwear, but it does lean more casual and is moderately priced. It is, of course, nice to hear compliments., https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/style/the-sensibility-of-ssense.html. Im pretty sure the customers there hated me.. Founded in Montreal, in 2003, by brothers Rami, Firas and Bassel Atallah, SSENSE started humbly; the original platform being built by student Rami for his computer engineering thesis. They put the onus back on us to be like, what can we do together? he says. It was a long-term investment that has clearly paid off.. Modesty, of course, is not typically a word that comes to mind when discussing the hype-heavy spheres of designer fashion and street wear, Ssenses foremost offerings. Sign up here. However, he added that Polyvores community was its most valuable asset, making it a bizarre choice to shut it down. An online fashion platform that has become a huge brand in its own right. London-based Farfetch, for example, is worth US$15 billion and trades on the New York Stock Exchange. They were ready to take risks.. Every itemabout 120,000 per yearis photographed in studios at company headquarters. Current and former employees said the company resembles a tech firm more than a purveyor of cool clothing, where each decision must be bolstered by numbers. Weve had to move or expand our fulfillment centre every year or two to accommodate growth, says Bassel Atallah, the chief operating officer, adding the company receives thousands of orders per day. That kind of risk, it seems, is reserved solely for fashion. Ssense is investing in global expansion just as some of the biggest fashion houses embrace streetwears aesthetics to lure younger customers. Alexa Lanza, the market director of Interview magazine, often uses Ssense as a research tool because of its vast selection of products and visual presentation. Each item is styled with editorial precision, usually on flinty-faced models, like the kind you may find meandering through Dimes Square in New York City, against open white backgrounds. Ssense has 26 photo studios, sequestered behind a door with biometric security, to maintain this volume. You hear a lot about companies that get a lot of funding and two years later you dont know whats happening with them. If it starts to feel commercial or if it loses its cool factor, that customer is the first to abandon it and move on.. And this robust base is vital to the companys success and ability to deliver. The models wear the dissociative look of those who have gazed into the abyss and seen the abyss gaze back. Your time is valuable. Retail analysts, like Mr. de Brabant, were surprised when news of Sequoias multibillion dollar valuation was announced. Join thousands of executives to hear first about our latest webinars, case studies, expert insights and more. You can change your settings at any time by clicking Manage Settings. The funding was announced in June (the amount was not disclosed), and Cheung took a seat on the Ssense board. And as part of the collaboration, Burberry invited Ssense to add its neoteric polish to its SoHo retail space. They were early to see the potential of online fashion retail, especially for high-end products. That compares with 90-minute fulfillment for Londoners shopping with MatchesFashion and some Gucci purchases on Farfetch in 10 cities. To that end, the company quietly started a brand development program with plans to launch its own clothing next year. He enlisted the help of his two brothers Firas and Bassel now chief financial officer and chief operating officer, respectively to transform his part-time passion project into a fully-fledged business. China, where sales of luxury goods surged 48% last year, is of course a priority for competitors. Its a fashion platform that specializes in selling a variety of products from independent, streetwear and luxury designers as well as providing an SSENSEs editorial for viewers information, education, and entertainment. (Hivelin died in 2014.). We never doubted him, Bassel said in a phone interview, referring to Rami. The name carries a certain mystique thats hard to define, other than to say it radiates a sophisticated coolness. Ssense certainly has some catching up to do. In Atallahs telling, his persistence reminded Hivelin of his own youthful grit, and he came around to the idea. Sales quickly started to rise; the company has seen revenue grow an average 60 and 80 percent annually. They dont use knock-off brands. The driving force behind this success has undoubtedly been SSENSEs appeal to well-educated, well-dressed, well-moneyed millennials (nearly 80% of their audience between 18 and 34). Search on Twitter, and you will find both people lamenting they have no money to spend on Ssense and those lamenting they have just spent too much money on Ssense. When SSENSE sends their shipments out, you can rest assured that every brand included is authentic. The quality of the brands included are high, but theres nothing fancy included in the lots. Atallah no longer has to pine outside the doors of the fashion elite. Ciera Parker, a 27-year-old in New York, has always loved style. An identity. It was not the first company to do soNet-a-Porter, perhaps the best-known player in the space, launched in 2000and the field is intensely competitive. Atallah, then in his mid-twenties, wanted to convince Hivelin to make Balmains clothing available for sale on Ssense. An essence. It just looked good written out, so we went for it, he said, explaining that it is a play on the word essence. (While it may be obvious to some, Ssenses correct pronunciation seems to be a source of bewilderment for many. The effort came on the heels of Ssenses expansion of its editorial platform, and Mr. Atallah was insistent that visitors to the landing page be greeted not by products, but by cultural content, a blend of essays, fashion editorials and interviews. I was like, Wow, I want to do that, he said. Coming from a completely closed-off world to a place like Canada, experiencing the openness of its culture, has freed us up to see things differently, he said. Alain Hivelin had rescued Balmain a few years earlier, overseeing a move from selling classy blazers to crystal-bedazzled ripped jeans and other rock starinspired garments. That changed with Sequoia Capital China. The top floor is given over to a caf and bookshop, while two floors are dedicated to personal shopping appointments. The company is also mounting a campaign to boost sales in China, one of the worlds largest luxury markets, with Mandarin and Cantonese versions of its website set to launch in July. Customers can pick from 20,000 products offered online and have them whisked from Ssenses main distribution centre within an hour. It just sparked my curiosity.. Never mind that this meant the company he started out of his parents Montreal basement in 2003, with the help of his two brothers, would now be one of the most valuable luxury e-commerce operations in the world. Collaborations with brands large and small are frequent occurrences, as are lavishly produced cultural events, like the time a replica of Virgil Ablohs Chicago studio was built inside of Ssenses retail space, designed by the architect David Chipperfield, or when the experimental producer ARCA staged an elaborate performance, involving vats of fluid, on all five floors.

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