NATIONAL: Australian designers are the surprise beneficiaries of the new Google-powered fashion e-commerce portal, boutiques.com.
Ksubi, Willow, sass and bide, Thurley, Bassike, Lover and Rachel Gilbert are among the brands featured under its designer directory icon. When contacted by Ragtrader, representatives for most labels were not yet aware of the new portal, or their inclusion on the site.
Despite gathering unprecedented international media coverage, Google Australia representatives were also unaware of its launch when contacted by Ragtrader. The company declined to comment on whether any Australian retailers or e-tailers would be targeted for the fashion portal.
Womenswear designer Rachel Gilbert confirmed her garments are available to purchase on boutiques.com via a leading international stockist. The portal directs Rachel Gilbert searches to net-a-porter.com, which takes care of product imagery, customer orders and dispatch.
“It is a great aggregator of online fashion boutiques,” she said. “We see online as a big growth area for our label, so the more presence we have online, the better.”
Bassike designers Mary Lou Ryan and Deborah Sams were also surprised to learn that their Sydney-based brand was featured. They hope the site will help boost their online operations.
“It makes it super easy for the customer to find what they are looking for and also helps the online retailer,” the pair said.
Lover creative director Nic Briand was not concerned that the ‘Lover’ directory also picked up other products featuring the brand’s name.
“From my understanding it’s all based on Google algorithms ,” she said. “It’s not someone sitting there selecting stock, so mistakes like this are going to happen based on other companies having products with the word ‘Lover’ in it.
“Down the track there should be a way to flag the product that isn’t yours, as it can be misleading to the consumer.”
Boutiques.com was launched in late November and distils the designer product available on various e-commerce sites such as net-a-porter.com, shopbop.com and asos.com into easy to search categories.
Boutiques.com also features a number of celebrity or fashion blogger-inspired ‘boutiques’, with brands curated to emulate each style.
Melinda Oliver