A little over 10 years ago, right about the time the dreaded millennium bug was threatening to dislodge the once-hailed dotcom boom, a fashion stylist and writer in London had an idea for an online business. It was for a luxury online fashion store.
Natalie Massenet, then 34, was told she would fail. Women would never shell out big money for things they couldn't touch and try first, she was told.
But the mother-of-two stuck to her instincts, struggling at first out of a warehouse in West London with just two employees, and a lot of determination.
Four years later, Net-a-Porter.com, her brainchild, made a profit. Then, last year, she sold it to Swiss luxury behemoth Richemont for an estimated £50 million (Dh183 million) , the group valuing the pioneering fashion site at £350 million.
Today, it's hard to imagine any fashion brand worth its salt without an online retail component. The internet is deluged with fashion retailers, selling everything from high-end to high-street, and everything in between.
But Massenet, a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) honoree, has continued to grow her business. In 2009, she launched TheOutnet.com, selling goods from previous collections at a discount. Then last year, after the deal with Richemont, she announced that she would buy back £15 million into the business and will continue to serve as executive chairman.
February marks another milestone in the entrepreneur's career with the launch of MrPorter.com, a Net-a-Porter exclusively for men, which goes live globally today.
It's uncharted territory for Massenet and her ilk, and they've made sure they leave no stone unturned, hiring top people for the job.
Jeremy Langmead, a former editor at men's magazine Esquire, is the editor-in-chief.
"The problem until now has been that menswear online has always been seen as second fiddle to women's wear," he tells tabloid! in an exclusive interview. I had asked him what he thought was missing in the men's online fashion retailing.
"You always have to find menswear by scrabbling around for the button hidden away at the top left or right hand corner of a women's wear website. Until now there hasn't been a dedicated global men's style destination for men."
Mr Porter, Langmead hopes, will replicate its sister site's success.
"I truly think it will revolutionise the way men buy clothes," he says. "Many men don't enjoy the experience of going into stores; or even shopping at all. We hope we've made it so much easier, quicker and enjoyable. We have made it easy to use — the functionality is smart and logical; there is a huge amount of information and inspiration."
But while sharing the same DNA and hopefully catering to the same class of people, including Net-a-Porter customers, who buy for their men, Mr Porter will be quite different in approach, explains Langmead.
"Because this is a retail website for men, it will look, feel and talk very differently to Net-A-Porter. Natalie Massenet was very insistent that Mr Porter be an entirely new brand, but one that was able to draw on the expertise and success of its sister."
Some things will remain the same though. All purchases will come delivered in the trademark black and white boxes, an important element of Net-a-Porter's success. Content-wise too, the layout sticks to its magazine style, with articles, style interviews, columns and quirky how-tos. There are items from over 50 labels, all carefully handpicked, with the number bound to grow as traffic picks up.
The approach, says Langmead, is style, not fashion.
"We select the brands — and the products produced by those brands — that will appeal to stylish men all over the world," he says. "Each collection has a sophisticated and stylish buy that should appeal as much to the fashion-conscious man about town as to the more mature guy who wants to look good but doesn't care about the latest trends.
Fashion-forward
"We have bought a cross-section of brands from the more fashion-forward labels, to the contemporary lifestyle labels to specialist niche labels like the hat makers Lock & Co or Charvet."
Accessories will also form an important element of the line-up, adds the editor, who admits shoes are his greatest extravangance.
"Working on Mr Porter is going to be dangerous as we are stocking John Lobb — and those shoes are amazing," he jokes. "I always manage to convince myself I really do need that extra pair I've just spotted, even though one glance into my shoe cupboard makes it clear I really don't."
Mr Porter's arrival should be good news for fashion-forward people such as Tariq Edrees, a Dubai-based former fashion and lifestyle television presenter, who recently started his own production house.
"It's a welcome addition to the market," he says. "There are very limited choices here for those really into fashion and who want to be different."
Edrees, who says he often shops online for clothes, is one of the "founding members" of Mr Porter, a selected group of people invited to get special perks and to help spread the word about the site.
Drew Steedman, a marine engineer from Scotland, who also shops online for clothes, is keen to see what the site will offer.
"I would like to see how the products are priced since I think the mark-ups here in the UAE are really high. I usually go to a store, try some clothes on and then go online to buy it. I then have it delivered to the UK and have a relative bring it for me. It's long-winded but I still save a good 20 per cent," he says. "I know many men who take to the internet because they just can't find what they want here."
Dina Addul Hadi Daryani, who owns her own fashion retail site Aura-b.com says men in the UAE are very under-served.
"I only sell upcoming designers and although most of my products are for women, I know there is huge demand for the men's clothes. But there is no variety and that is what's missing in the market," she says.
But not everyone has warmed up to the concept of online buying, especially for luxury goods. Errol Isip, freelance event manager, says he prefers to try items before he pays for them.
"I like to see it and touch it first. I think buying online is fine for gadgets but clothes is a different thing," he says.
"But if it's a one-off piece and I can only find it online, then I'll buy it."
Issip recently started using social media to promote his start-up, It Boutique, an initiative to introduce one-off pieces by designers from his hometown in the Philippines to the UAE market.
"It's for people who want to stand out and have unique clothes so you don't run the risk of bumping into someone wearing the same thing," he says.
With the concept of online shopping picking up, Mr Porter's Langmead hopes he can dip into his sister website's pool of experience and make a success of his new venture.
"For mature markets, who no longer require the experience of a bricks and mortar store, or the stress and expense of a physical journey, or navigating the crowds of a busy shopping street, the ability to shop from the comfort of your own home where you can make a considered and thoughtful purchase decision cannot be underestimated," he says.
"We have fine-tuned the shopping experience and made it an easy and enjoyable pastime."
