What happens when high-street retail becomes homogenized into an identical strip of big chain stores? Internet shopping. E-commerce is one of the prime problems facing traditional high-street retailers.
And we are not talking about netaporter.com, asos.com, mytheresa.com. There’s now a new generation of online shops, that allow you to go shopping with your friends, to browse interesting little boutiques across the world, to commission items directly from designers…
Here a list with the most interesting “etailersâ€:
Lifestylemirror.com – Shop directly from their fashion editorials.
£65 at Life Style Mirror
Farfetch.com- An umbrella site for scores of independent fashion and design shops around the world.
Carven dress £520 - Farfetch
TheCorner.com – This site is a collection of online “corners” – individually put-together stores – that showcase exclusives and rarities from designers including Marni, Christopher Kane, Ann Demeulemeester, Haider Ackermann and Dries Van Noten.
Kenzo £310 - The Corner
LuisaViaRoma.com – From every day Converse trainers to once-in-a-lifetime Valentino dresses, this Italian-based site offers an enormous breadth of brands – including many we’ve never heard of .
Giuseppe Zanotti £242 - Luisa Via Roma
Motilo.com – Shopping with (good) friends is great fun. Motilo allows you to leisurely scour its enormous rails with your friends, all in the comforting glow of your computer screen. Rather like the website Polyvore, this site allows you to make little collages – or “looks” – of clothes that take your fancy. The clever bit is that your friends can then examine your “looks” and share their opinion of it, as well as anything else.
L'Agence £215 - Motilo
ModaOperandi.com - The idea behind this site is risky – which is exactly why extreme fashionistas may love it. The notion is that customers can order items from the catwalk that wouldn’t necessarily be put into production.
Lizzie Fortunato £227 - Moda Operandi
Coggles.com – In 1974 Victoria Bage, from York, discovered that her husband was having an affair with a secretary named Sarah Coggles. In order to taunt him in perpetuity – once she had left him – she named her new boutique Coggles. Fast forward to 2012, and Coggles.com has grown into a quirky etailer with many international labels and a particularly choice pick of British design. It has an excellent, tightly-edited, vintage section and reams of real-people “street-style” pictures – apparently Britain’s largest collection – for you to draw inspiration from. It also sells beautiful bikes, books and even kitchen equipment. Ms Bage’s former husband’s loss is the online shopper’s gain.
50's bath suit £146 - Coggles
We Are Selecters – a group of fashion designers who travels around the world looking for new brands. They have the best t-shirt selection, ever!
Trendt- 49 Euros - We Are Selecters
