For our Ladies Who Lead series, female leaders in luxury and fashion share their journeys to the top and their learnings along the way. Here, Elizabeth von der Goltz, chief fashion and merchandising officer, Farfetch, discusses the nature of retail, building a board of trusted advisors and the importance of openness
What does your current role at Farfetch and Browns entail?
As chief fashion and merchandising officer of Farfetch, my role is to drive the company’s overall product and merchandising strategy across not only the marketplace but also Browns. Browns has an incredible legacy of being a fixture in the landscape of British fashion for over 52 years, and as CEO, it’s my intention to build on this incredible heritage. Drawing on my previous experience in luxury fashion, we hope to truly bridge the physical with the digital worlds together to build stronger connections with the Browns and Farfetch customers, while bringing the team on this journey also.
What were some lessons or key takeaways from your journey across Net-A-Porter, Matches and now Farfetch?
The most important takeaway from my journey is that the customer has to be your primary focus throughout. Always consider what brands they love, what they might want to discover, additional services you can provide them and what inspirational content can be created to engage with them. Secondly, is how to marry the digital arm of the business with the physical touchpoints to bring together the voice of the brand. This can be a powerful engagement tool for your top customers and also a way to further understand their lifestyles and how to cater to their fashion and beauty needs. With the retail landscape and our customer changing faster than ever, it’s more important than ever before for us as leaders to understand not only how to drive business but also how to create a strong company culture.
Were there any specific challenges you faced as a woman or specifically a woman of colour along the way?
The fashion industry, especially luxury, is still predominantly led by men who often have very similar backgrounds in terms of education and professional experience. As a woman of colour, this has been an ongoing challenge, and whilst we have seen significant improvement over the years, there still needs to be more progress made. Of course, there have been moments along my career where, as a woman in this industry, I’ve felt pigeonholed into being only a product person with great taste instead someone with business acumen and operational experience. I’ve found the antidote to this is being true to yourself and developing a true partnership with whoever you’re working with.
What was the best advice you were given and when have you applied it?
The first is be inquisitive and listen to those around you to create a dialogue where questions are being asked and answered, instead of being the only one in the room speaking. The second is understanding what motivates your team, and then creating the space to both share and receive feedback, which are both equally as important to everyone’s development, including your own as it ultimately allows for improvement. When I joined Browns as CEO, I sat down with the wider team and started roundtable discussions, asking what values were important, what their goals were for themselves and the business, and what were the big opportunities they saw as well as issues and challenges. This helped us all learn and hear from one another enabling us to shape everyone's views together into our new vision, mission and values.
See also: Citizens of Humanity's Amy Williams on finding a career you love, and the constant quest for balance