José Neves, founder of Portugal’s first unicorn Farfetch, is nominated for the British prize in the “Business Leader” category, alongside the heads of Gucci, Versace, and Louis Vuitton.
The Fashion Awards, formerly called the British Fashion Awards until 2016, has been held since 1989 and is organized by the British Fashion Council (BFC).
The annual ceremony is the main source of donations for the BFC’s Education Foundation, dedicated to financially supporting students with significant potential in the fashion industry.
This year the ceremony takes place on December 10 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and the list of nominees for the Fashion Awards have been announced.
Farfetch founder and president Neves is nominated in the “Business Leader” category and is part of a shortlist of candidates for the award that includes the presidents of Gucci, Burberry, and Louis Vuitton and the CEO of Versace.
The Business Leader award recognizes the work of a CEO or President of a fashion business who has overseen both creative and commercial success in the past year. With a natural aptitude to nurture both creative talent and commercial growth, the Business Leader enables creative freedom alongside financial stability, which in turn generates innovation and excitement within the industry and beyond.
The nominees are:
- Jonathan Akeroyd for VERSACE
- José Neves for FARFETCH
- Marco Bizzarri for Gucci
- Marco Gobbetti for Burberry
- Michael Burke for Louis Vuitton
Born in Guimarães, Neves founded in 2007 the company that would eventually become the first Portuguese unicorn. In September of this year, Farfetch debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, valued at almost five billion euros, “more expensive” than Amazon itself.
Read More: Farfetch IPO raises €754M, new shareholder PETA says ‘stop selling fur’
With the market capitalization, the company created by the Portuguese entrepreneur positioned itself immediately above $8 billion mark, according to Observador.
In the last decade, Farfetch’s success has not only been measured by its appreciation. The company revolutionized the online luxury fashion trade.
Read More: Farfetch opens 150-person luxury office in Braga with go-kart track
“I was a shoe designer, a boutique owner, a trade show organizer, a real handyman in the fashion world. And I fell in love with this world, I was fascinated by people, by places, by creative chaos,” said Neves in a letter written at the time of the IPO.
Portugal’s 1st Unicorn, Farfetch
In March of 2015, Farfetch became the first Portuguese company to valued at $1 billion.
Read More: A $1 Billion Milestone for the Portuguese Startup Scene
Farfetch was created in 2008 close to Porto, Portugal by a Portuguese founder, José Neves. Legally the company is British and they have offices in Braga, Dubai, Guimarães, Hong Kong, L.A., Lisbon, London, Moscow, New York, Porto, Shanghai, São Paulo, and Tokyo. but their genes are all Portuguese.
The Portugese startup’s international success drew the attention of a €300 million startup scaleup investment fund.