José Neves: the Buddhist transforming luxury fashion

José Neves cornered the market in building bespoke websites and apps for boutique fashion brands and retailers. That put him in a sweet spot when the pandemic arrived.

José Neves
(Image credit: © Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“The essence of Zen is: be here now,” says José Neves. “In a crisis, that’s really useful because you train your mind to be aware that external situations around you [are] going to pass.” He’s had his share of hairy moments. But for the moment “now” must be a sweet place for the Portuguese entrepreneur who, fittingly for someone who got his start in shoes, seems to have the luxury fashion industry at his feet. Neves, 47, runs Farfetch, a digital platform hosting a collection of independent boutiques and designer labels that has thrived in the pandemic. He’s credited with keeping many independents afloat when shops closed. That was just the start, says Forbes. Having cornered the market in building bespoke websites and apps in the sector, the London-based, New York-listed outfit has placed itself “at the centre of the online luxury digital revolution”.

Reimagining the shopping trip

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Jane writes profiles for MoneyWeek and is city editor of The Week. A former British Society of Magazine Editors editor of the year, she cut her teeth in journalism editing The Daily Telegraph’s Letters page and writing gossip for the London Evening Standard – while contributing to a kaleidoscopic range of business magazines including Personnel Today, Edge, Microscope, Computing, PC Business World, and Business & Finance.

She has edited corporate publications for accountants BDO, business psychologists YSC Consulting, and the law firm Stephenson Harwood – also enjoying a stint as a researcher for the due diligence department of a global risk advisory firm.

Her sole book to date, Stay or Go? (2016), rehearsed the arguments on both sides of the EU referendum.

She lives in north London, has a degree in modern history from Trinity College, Oxford, and is currently learning to play the drums.