Drest is revolutionizing how luxury brands engage with consumers by gamifying fashion. This episode reveals how founder Lucy Yeomans convinced traditional luxury houses to embrace a digital platform, highlighting the power of high user engagement and a meticulously crafted digital environment that respects brand DNA. Learn how rapid iteration cycles and a unique approach to brand storytelling are shaping the future of luxury retail.
Key takeaways
Luxury brands can be onboarded to digital platforms by demonstrating high user engagement and maintaining a luxurious digital environment that respects the brand's DNA.
Rapid product development cycles, common in gaming (e.g., updates every two weeks), can be successfully applied to fashion tech to keep digital offerings fresh and engaging.
Gamification offers a powerful new avenue for luxury brands to communicate their DNA and engage consumers beyond traditional marketing channels.
The future of omnichannel shopping for luxury brands involves seamless integration of physical and digital experiences, with an emphasis on interactive and experiential online platforms.
Because Drest is centered on bringing together notoriously slow-to-evolve luxury fashion brands and innovative gaming technology, it would seem that founder and co-CEO Lucy Yeomans has her work cut out for her.
But with more than 20 years of experience working with luxury fashion brands, she knows how to speak their language.
“I thought it was going to be much, much tougher than it was [to get brands to sign on to the platform],” Yeomans said on the Glossy Podcast. Among clinchers was the high level of engagement among Drest users -- spending 17 minutes to create a look on the app is normal, she said. Drest’s elevated look and feel were also factors.
“[Brands] understood that the environment we created was completely luxurious and respected, that [it followed] all the codes of luxury, and that it was an amazing place to talk about their DNA in a very, very different way,” she said.
Formerly editor-in-chief of Porter magazine and British Harper's Bazaar, Yeomans has also had to get acclimated to the fast-paced gaming world since launching Drest in October 2019: “I'm used to being somewhere where you develop an app and you move on, and you come back to it maybe three years later,” she said. “In gaming, we are changing the product every two weeks.”
She also discussed Drest’s expansion to beauty and fine jewelry, and shopping’s omnichannel future.
Luxury brands can be onboarded to digital platforms by demonstrating high user engagement and maintaining a luxurious digital environment that respects the brand's DNA.
What does this episode say about retail & omnichannel?
Rapid product development cycles, common in gaming (e.g., updates every two weeks), can be successfully applied to fashion tech to keep digital offerings fresh and engaging.
What does this episode say about ai & automation?
Gamification offers a powerful new avenue for luxury brands to communicate their DNA and engage consumers beyond traditional marketing channels.
What does this episode say about founder & leadership?
The future of omnichannel shopping for luxury brands involves seamless integration of physical and digital experiences, with an emphasis on interactive and experiential online platforms.
