The Restory is the world’s first aftercare platform. We use our unique operating knowledge, our elite supply and our proprietary systems to power aftercare for the luxury fashion industry. In doing so, we inspire repair and restoration to become an essential part of the fashion experience overall.
We’re transforming an essential service from a tired high-street utility into a branded fashion experience by pairing luxury experience with e-commerce simplicity. So far, we are the undisputed leaders in the space globally. We are the official global aftercare partner for Farfetch, and we have embedded partnerships with UK retailers Harrods, Selfridges, Browns and Harvey Nichols, as well as with Manolo Blahnik and Nicholas Kirkwood.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
It was initially born out of frustration. I felt trapped between what I saw as untrustworthy, out-of-date mass-market solutions and brands and retailers who couldn’t or wouldn’t help. I wanted to feel empowered to invest in my style (and have an easy and trustworthy way to look after it) and I thought brands and retailers would be wise to encourage me to do so and keep me feeling valued and engaged.
But it’s so much more than that now. Not only are consumers demanding more for their clientele, but also regulators and $53T worth of ESG-seeking capital markets are also demanding circular solutions – and circular fashion can’t happen without aftercare. The issue is that most brands are not set up with a scalable solution to offer this in earnest (they will be overwhelmed by the response).
We’ve cracked this complexity and can help.
More from Interviews
- Interview With Joe Gillam, Co-Founder Of Soul Spaces
- A Chat With Alexander Kihm, Founder And CEO Of POMA AI
- A Chat With Jason Day, Head Of EMEA At Luma: How Agentic AI Is Rewriting The Rules Of Creative Production
- A Chat With Yahya Hmida, XWorld: Building An Enterprise AI Company With No Outside Funding
- A Chat With Antonio Barradas, Epassi And Zest: Why Choice Alone Isn’t Enough For Employee Benefits
- A Chat With Laura Harrison, Education Lifeguards: Rethinking Teacher Wellbeing This World Mental Health Day
- A Chat With Luca Steinmetz, FARAWAYHOME: How AI Search Is Rewriting The Rental Listing
- A Chat With Lucid Software’s Jamie Lyon: Why Shared Context Is Becoming AI’s Real Competitive Edge
How has the company evolved during the pandemic?
We knew that all the digital and sustainability developments we were already playing into would get bigger and more pronounced as a result of the pandemic. We wanted to be ready when the crisis broke and therefore we used the pandemic as an opportunity to invest in (and we continue to do so) the infrastructure that breaks down the traditional barriers to scale.
We built and optimised systems to increase efficiency, create a better customer experience and create flexible solutions for our retail and brand partners to design aftercare solutions that suit their needs. We invested in training, development and equipment to ensure our artisans are empowered to do what they do best and remain the world’s most elite. And we invested in a leadership capacity, particularly around technology, operations, data and finance to ensure we can grow the business over the next 24 months.
What can we hope to see from The Restory in the future?
First, we return to strong growth; We are already over 3x larger than we were this time last year and our business development pipeline is stronger than it’s ever been.
Second, we are making serious investments in technology and leadership ahead of what we are planning to be our hockey stick year in 2023. We are particularly excited about our new Product team, our Ux/Ui roadmap and our API strategy. Finally, we are laying the foundations for global scale in everything from legal structures, to logistics, technical solutions and more.
