In her field, Viviane Lipskier is a leading figure. A graduate of the renowned École du Louvre in Paris, this observer of emerging signals was the first in France to grasp and theorise the importance of clothing labels for which the Internet is both a launchpad and the conduit for a values-driven ethos. The famous DNVBs, as they are called in America — Hast is one, for example. Now advising brands through her "DNVB factory", she even drew a book from it, published in 2018: "DNVB: The Gifted Ones of Digital Commerce". In this "Covid-era", when buying clothes online and an appetite for a certain form of ethics matter more and more, it was only right to take stock with the author.
What does Digital Native Vertical Brand mean?
There is a tendency to confuse brands launching with a website and an Instagram account — which are nothing more than modern brands, a kind of Insta-brand — with genuine DNVBs, which have a model behind their business. A DNVB is a technology start-up that, instead of offering a dematerialised product, develops a physical consumer good, such as clothing. DNVBs were born online. They do not start with a shop or a showroom. They make most of their sales online, on their own website but also elsewhere on the Internet, and that is also, above all, where they express their brand mission and build their community. The idea is to cultivate a spirit.
.jpg)
In what context did these brands emerge?
It is a model that was born in Silicon Valley, naturally, after the wave of the first Internet companies in the early 2000s. It was a time when it was easy to be listed on search engines because there were few websites, but the Internet was slow. It crawled! And you had to build your own sales platform. There was not yet any ready-to-use software available. For these brands, it meant investing in areas of the economy that were then neglected by major consumer goods groups, or in which a single player reigned, as was the case in the eyewear market, where one main player had established a global monopoly, producing most lifestyle lenses and frames.
DNVBs, on the other hand, collect a certain amount of information from their customers online in order to produce in small quantities, at the right price, without promotions, so that nothing goes to waste.
DNVBs also emerged by pointing out that the in-store customer experience no longer had much to offer. If you have a body shape outside the usual sizes, finding trousers that fit perfectly could prove difficult. And sales assistants were more there to fold the clothes that had been tried on than to advise customers, particularly in the world of fast fashion. In 2007, the founder of one of the first DNVBs — who also coined the acronym — came up with the idea of creating a start-up that would sell trousers online, perfectly tailored to each person’s shape, using an algorithm and data to multiply the possible combinations and thus satisfy everyone. It was like a giant virtual shop, impossible to replicate in real life.
You say that DNVBs are committed to ethics…
It is a model that makes it possible to control the value chain, make the system as transparent as possible and be able to prove it. All this in order, ultimately, to sell the right quantity at a fairer price. This last point is central to the way DNVBs are evolving. In the traditional system, brands produce far too much, encourage people to consume clothes they neither need nor want, and end up with excess stock that must then be cleared through sales or destroyed. DNVBs, on the other hand, collect a certain amount of information from their customers online in order to produce in small quantities, at the right price, without promotions, so that nothing goes to waste.
.jpg)
What is the relationship between these brands and the environment in ready-to-wear?
DNVBs have the luxury of being able to choose their suppliers of raw materials, ensuring every possible environmental and social criterion is met: the quality of the fabric, where the cotton was first grown, the amount of water used to grow that cotton, and the pay of those who picked it. It was an American brand that launched this movement in 2010, explaining that fashion should no longer be an opaque industry. People there decided to produce to order, relying on algorithms. Analysts began predicting which pieces would perform best in order to produce garments as accurately as possible, without waste. At the same time, the aim was to embrace total transparency by breaking down the price of each piece for the customer, so that they could fully understand what they were buying and spending. It has now become a genuine model in the world of ready-to-wear. Today, it allows people to trust the retailers they buy from.
Is the idea of the physical shop obsolete?
Bad physical retail is obsolete. Standard brand stores where absolutely nothing happens, where you try things on, buy, and leave almost apologising for having stopped by, no longer work. There is no life in these places, no adventure. We are drowning in clothes, and sales assistants are only there to sell a product in order to fill the customer’s basket.
Today, it allows people to trust the retailers they buy from.
Today, a shop must be one of a kind; that is the new rule of the game. It may be what is known as a “destination store”, a kind of place where footfall is limited to preserve a certain intimacy; each piece you wish to try on is specially brought out from stock. For some of these shops, you may need to make an appointment. You are welcomed by someone who is more of a guide than a salesperson, who takes great care of the customer, advises them and may even offer, at the end, to deliver the clothes to their home so they are not burdened for the rest of the day. The shop remains important because a large part of the population still likes to buy clothes this way. People need to go and see, to touch, before spending. What matters is the social connection this represents.