I'm Shi Las Midas. I uh I am Director of International Supply Far Fetch. Uh and I'm also champion for diversity inclusion more recently. And I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about living the far fetched values. Now, I speak very much from the heart.So uh don't expect something very scripted for me. Uh It's not my style and style is very important when it comes to far fetched in terms of our individuality. So I'm gonna do it my way. Um Now whiz you through with a little bit of a journey and I'll start by talking about um uh our mission. Um when I first uh uh was interviewed by Jose um for a job at far fetch. Uh This mission statement hadn't been written yet. Um And when I read this, now, uh I look back and I think, wow, uh even at that interview, um what I see here written here really resonated um and starting with sort of this empowering individuality and it sounds very fancy, but at the end of the day, what it was was um the interview took on a style that was just really casual um a conversation it felt like I was having a, a coffee chat with somebody and not really an interview talking about my life experiences and work experiences in a supernatural way.

Um, even finding points of connection and, you know, where, where there was the common ground and, and, and actually getting excited discussing once I'd understood a little bit the vision in the conversation, getting excited about, um, you know, talking about ideas of like, oh, how can we connect the these boutique partners and, and technology?

And it just seemed very awesome that we would be able to bridge gaps for retailers um and bring them into the world of technology and e commerce. And it was super exciting. Uh And really clearly to me a message about what it would be like to work at far fetch and what we would be building right from that day one. And so this mission statement really resonates with me that global aspect as well. Um was very attractive and still is. And it's a huge part of our DNA that we worked across the globe. And back then, we already had offices in Sao Paulo in L A and London and, and Portugal and, and for such for a start up, that was pretty cool that we were already sort of reaching out and, and being in those regions. So that was that. And I think our mission is still rings true nowadays and it's, it's, it's incredible that it started for me um that long ago, 12 years ago. So, um that's far fetched. Um We, we've got a wonderful um set of values and, and the fun thing about this, the, this, the, the values that we have is they were created by far fetchers.

Um They were created by all the people and I literally mean all the people and I believe it was in 2012. Um And all the consultant we'd hired at the time sort of said, oh no, it's impossible to align values uh if you involve so many people, but we like to do things our way. And we uh uh managers got hold of, of groups of 2040 people at a time and literally everybody at far fetch across all the regions um had a say in what our values were gonna be. And he, I think the consultant was super impressed or shocked that we were able to very quickly come up with five values at the time. And then it ended up being six later on with the MA S customers added. Um Because um the culture, like I said, that interview set the tone for me. Um The culture was already there. Everybody knew how we behaved for fetch and so be brilliant. Uh um is, is, is I think one of the the overarching ones um because if you are brilliant, you will be doing all the other five values as well.

Um And I think it resonates very strongly with far fetch because we do work in a complex environment, technologically, operationally, it far fetch is a super complex um uh uh enterprise uh right now and we need to sometimes work um in a in a situation where we're already ready to launch, want to launch tomorrow something um in inverse commerce.

Um and things can be, you know, ambiguous and we go the extra mile and I think that's, that's really where, where, where, where the heart of, of things are for far fetched. Um The revolutionary side kicks in um strongly because we're always trying to break uh what is normal. Um And it doesn't mean just creating new technologies, et cetera. It actually means the way we work, the way we, we shape things, the decisions we make and how we make those decisions. Um You know, not taking too long about them being brave about them. Um and wanting to sort of change the world and it sounded crazy back then when we were tiny, tiny, tiny. Um And yet we still keep doing it year on year. And I think it's really exciting to be here because of that, the global aspect to me. Um Absolutely rings true. I, I spent half my life in London um and the other half here in Portugal and I was born in Mozambique. So this whole global aspect of doing things as a United Force, making sure we're considerate of all the cultures um and inclusive about, you know, what feels right and is right um across the globe.

Um It rings so true and uh we live this and breathe this every day frankly and the be human. Well, um I think that the only thing we can ask of each other, um And I think it is as an individual act, as well as a collective intent is us being kind and respectful. It boils down to doing things from the heart. Um And not being afraid to make mistakes or learn from mistakes better still. Um And uh when we think about this aspect and the world and how big it is and how everything is viewed differently from different people's eyes and, and from different cultures and societies that we live in. I think this becomes um an even more beautiful thing to do to just have that level of respect and intent. Um And then lastly to de Junto, now to de Junto is a Portuguese word words. Um And actually the value that came up uh when we were doing the exercise was all together, but it just didn't sound right like altogether, just wasn't very catchy. And um David Lindsay, who was our CTO at the time, just literally Googled.

Um How do you translate altogether into Portuguese? Uh because we have such a big Portuguese population at far fetch and it Todos Juntos came up and it's really amazing how it gets pronounced in a million different ways. Toto Juntos and everybody loves this. And the crux of this is, it's, you know, teamwork and all of that. You've heard it everywhere. But at far fetch, we really need to do this at a cross functional level. So it's not just about the team you work in, but it's actually across teams across business units and, you know, bridging that business side and technological side and this is where it becomes fun. Um because we really mix those worlds up of business and technology and understanding each other um on that, on that ground to make things happen is, is key for us. And lastly, um amazing customers and amazing customers isn't just about the the end customer, the consumer. It's actually about me, for example, on the business side being a customer of whoever is creating the technology at far fetch, um or, you know, our boutique partners and brand partners who, who are our suppliers being our customers as well and our partners. So we really go the extra mile in terms of making sure that, that, that we deliver unforgettable experience. And, and I really think that that that is not just um things we say, but with things we actually do.

And um for 12 years, if I felt that and not left, I think that it says something. So um those are our values. I'm gonna take you to our journey to understand like how, how we apply them like I said earlier, um you know, we, we started off with, with four countries and offices in four countries. We now have, you know, 14 offices across the globe and spread ourselves out. Um Japan, China, uh the sort of Eastern side of, of, of the equation were, were the last to join. And the most interesting in terms of integration and, and things like that. So these, these are the amazing countries that we're, we're in and offices, we have um thinking of numbers at far fetch. I'm employee number 37 and we're now at 6000 plus. Um and we sort of serve uh between us, you know, over 3 million customers, but th those 6000 employees is not it. Um we think of ourselves as a wider community than that. Um All the suppliers that we have across the, the world, um boutiques brands um and even sort of the, the service and support uh uh network, you know, everything from the logistics and the shipping and, and uh and, and other forms of supply.

Um We think of them as our community as well. And if you tie this into, you know, a shipping from over almost 200 countries, that whole equation turns into a lot of energy, a lot of energy. Um because we're networking across all of this and it means that when you're creating, whether it's technology, whether it's processes, whether it's logistics, the complexity of this and the buzz and energy that comes out of all of this is tremendous. It keeps us going. I've been at far fetch, like I said, for, for 12 years. And one of my individual characteristics is I get super bored easily and I'm not ashamed to say that. And frankly, I can say at far fetch, I've never ever been bored. So, um this is what the numbers translate into. What do we do with all that energy. Um We do what, what's never been done now, it, it sounds really catchy to say that. Um But in practice, I've seen this happen and it boils down to being super ambitious, I always think, ok, now we've, we've reached where we're supposed to reach, we've reached the top and there's always another hill, there's always another ambition around the corner and I believe this is what keeps us going.

It keeps the job interesting. Um Adding complexity, I think to whether it's the business process or whether it's, it's, it's, it's creating technology, makes it fun. Um You know, it, it means that we, we, we really build out our, our um our plans. Um looking ahead and not narrowing ourselves to what we've just achieved. We celebrate what we've just achieved immediately, but we then move on very fast and I think this is what it means to be doing what's never been done. Um So I'll walk you through a little bit of our journey. Um It's uh it's been a roller coaster and I'll jump right in. Um our marketplace launched in 2008 and the period between 2008 to, to, to the period we IP O ed uh in 2017 is what we call chapter one post IP O we, we, we, we refer to the period as, as, as chapter two. So chapter one for us was very much um in the especially up the run up to 2015 uh was very much building that marketplace. Um There was a lot of buzz and excitement about um adding more and more boutiques um internationalizing uh growing at an astronomical phase uh place. And uh that in itself required us to be super super agile.

Um really have our eye on the ball of like what is, what is it that we really needed to deliver on every year to keep this site from growing and, and uh and really evolving him in everything from, you know, language to what what the customer sees on the side versus what we are able to do in the back end to support what the customer sees.

And as we globalize further and further, you know, all the technology that goes behind driving things like uh you know, the currency side, the duty side, the complexity of all of that was incredible. So that was a drive um then, but we're more than just a marketplace and 2015 saw us at a beautiful spot where it, I couldn't believe in 2015 that we actually bought Browns. And, and the reason being that I was part of the story of when we actually signed Browns as a boutique partner back in 2012, 3 years earlier. And we broke the champagne then and uh uh you know, really celebrated that we had just signed the, the, the best boutique in London, um best luxury boutique in London to join Farfetch as a, as a supplier. Never, never dreaming that in three years time, we would actually own Browns and expand the Browns business um as part of our portfolio. And this is the beginning really of Farfetch going beyond being just a marketplace um and really becoming an enterprise business and starting that flow.

So Browns was a super proud moment for us and the other sort of turning point for us. Um and really putting us in the in the on the path of, of that technological luxury platform building uh company, not, not just that marketplace, like I mentioned earlier is that we started uh finding solutions for brands. Um This was a super exciting period because obviously, you know, when you work with a brand directly and and build up their, their solution for ecommerce, you're really tailoring and to tailor something requires a hell of a lot more uh technological effort than making something that is standard and applicable across the board.

So this is really super exciting and it culminated um in 2020 on us uh building the, the, the platform for ecommerce for Harrods. And so what a great achievement. And I think, you know, Kudos to Kelly Kal, um our chief platform officer and uh all the teams in, in, in, in tech that uh work together with that business unit to, to make all of this happen. For me 2015 personally, even on the marketplace was a critical time. Um This is when we were launching boutiques and, and, and, and brands suppliers in Japan and Australia, for example. So right across the world, uh time zones, all of this sort of, you know, challenges ahead and tech was a key part of it. I mean, I remember that uh we worked timing um and we lived on the edge of like razor sharp timing between the business needs and when tech would be ready with things and launching things, um just in time just in perfect time to be able to do, you know, multiple currencies across all these new regions, et cetera, make sure the back end of things were, were working.

And it's an incredible amount of co-working to pull these things off at the same time as you know, doing all these other new things like like the the platform solutions for brands. So uh this is what far fetch is like, it's, it's a buzz constantly and all that energy is driving multiple things at the same time. And so 2015 was a super strong year of getting things moving and going. And um then of course, you know, we, we did really super interesting things like um uh the store of the future now called like retail. And this really was trying to bring um technology into the retail for space and then making sure we're capitalizing on that data to drive uh a circular motion of, of, of information that we could um you know, tap into and bring, bring us into a new world. So, you know, at bronze, you can see all of this very actively and it's a super proud uh thing that we keep pursuing. Um and moving on from that, you know, we, we, we had our first step into China with the, with the, the partnership with jd.com and China is a really special place where um you know, to succeed there, we need local representation and really local ways of doing things and looking back at our values, we really needed to use that think global, that be human, that, that sort of humbleness almost of trying to understand a different culture and, and, and trying to put our mark there and um you know, tying in with an existing um entity, there was key.

Then of course, you know, we acquired this amazing team uh through curiosity, China, they are the experts of China for us um and to do things locally. Um And globally. Um is one of the things that we, you know, we are constantly striving to, to, to make those connections, to build those bridges. Um And I personally work on the international supply side and, and daily, you know, uh uh have uh connectivity in terms of like how do we do things for macro good versus local good? And uh and China is an amazing example of that because, you know, the laws there, even the, the, the way the business processes uh uh work have to be different. Logistics are totally different and therefore tech is different as well. And it requires a huge investment from us.

But the teams are amazing and it's, it's great to have strong local people. And then obviously, you know, uh uh the, the partnership with, with Chanel um uh and the exclusivity of that brought us into a whole new uh level of doing things and, and, and the way that we approach um the luxury side and that connection into, in, into technology. And it was just the, the, the, the right lever uh just before we IP O ed um uh in terms of uh uh getting on the New York Stock Exchange and it's, it was a beautiful, beautiful moment for us. We knew that we were going to do that one day. And in Portugal specifically, uh you know, far fetched was the, the first unicorn. And so it's a really super proud moment for us. And I think, you know, from a personal and human values kind of perspective, the fact that all far fetchers have equity, we all own a piece of far fetch. We have, you know, a share plan where everybody has shares in far fetch. And it's, it's, it's, I think something that really helps us in our everyday living. Uh not just financially but obviously, you know, feeling a part of, of, of a company and, and owning a part of a company is an incredible feeling.

Um And the bigger we, we, we got, the more we could be a part of it. So it's, it's, it's something to be super proud of. And that got us roller co co roller balling into um a series of acquisitions um to really become this enterprise uh business that uh you know, long forgotten that we think of ourselves only as a marketplace um and acquiring, you know, different kinds of products. So stadium goods could put us into a really great place in terms of sneakers and, and streetwear. Um and is still a strong business for us, um more acquisitions to come in a minute. But uh my, one of my favorite parts is, is us getting, you know, super involved um with our uh what is around us. Um really trying to find ways of um how can we make an impact, a positive impact and this is where positively far fetched um uh became a reality for us and we, we do things within the umbrella of positively far fetched that uh we hope will have long lasting effects. Um First of all, what you see on our website, you will find that you are able to uh spot uh what is conscious and what isn't um in terms of product.

And we, we partnered up with many entities to, to determine how to apply that when it came to our website. And, and when it came to the information that we provide consumers in terms of, you know, what, what product is it, what is it made of? Why is it uh great to buy this? We rolled out uh far fetched second life, um which is uh amazing. We have uh a whole series of um actions based around that. Uh And also our, our pre owned um or vintage uh business is booming. Um And the international side of that is, is a great component. Um More recently, we've done lots of activity in terms of uh our carbon footprint looking really at logistics and shipping and how we can make all that like a part of um the cycle, uh more positive for the, for the environment and, and, and, and, and for the globe so tons to do there.

And obviously, you know, um positivity in other aspects in terms of diversity, inclusion comes within this umbrella of positively far fetched as well, more acquisitions along the way. And the, the, the the great thing about um uh uh some of these acquisitions is I come back to that complexity of far fetched, the challenges, the fun part of like building out things that are constantly new. Um and the new guard business put us in a vertical business. So owning a brand uh or several brands like off white, et cetera requires a whole different way of looking at things um within the, the, the, the, the luxury fashion world um being vertical means starting from, you know, making the garment all the way to uh distributing it. And so that again, uh requires a whole set of eyes in terms of how we construct things. Paez, as I mentioned, uh uh earlier was uh the combination of, of uh the ecommerce uh partnership in terms of uh platform solutions and proud moment for us. Indeed, when we, when we did this, um and the teams that worked on this were just huge, there were just huge teams constantly trying to, to, to, to revamp re review and innovate what we could to, to really launch this partner and, and then I think it's a, it's a really proud moment for us.

Um We continued into um our ventures in, in uh in uh in China with, you know, growing the support from, from investors. So, partnering up with Alibaba and Richmond was key at this stage and our Fuses Valley. So we're working on um a new headquarter for far fetch and it is uh made very consciously uh uh with um architects that come from, from Scandinavia. And for me, I touched base with the project already in terms of diversity inclusion to understand, you know, where we're being considerate to needs that might emerge from that angle. And I was super, super excited when they told me that we had actually hired an architect to monitor the normal architects um uh in terms of um disability. So we'd hired a specialist architect in disability in terms of the architecture of buildings uh to work and push the regular arch uh architects in terms of how we, we would shape, you know, the, the, the the physical motion and more in terms of uh uh some of our far fetchers and to me the detail level of that sort of thing going down that path, um you know, run through so much and I, I literally sort of left them to, to, to, to, to carry on because there was no bigger sign for me that we were, we were following things more recently.

Um You know, allure systems has joined far fetch jetty, which um you know, will help us manage inventory and shipping work flows. Uh looks exclusive in terms of the resale platform. And uh the last but not least um our um acquisition of violet gray and our dip into the luxury uh beauty business and categories like that. Beauty kids, et cetera have been a huge factor of, of us using all that to de juntas values, et cetera and really sort of uh uh thinking about all the things that are challenging in each category that we need to do to roll out things. I mean, kids wear, for example, it was sizing and prices by size, et cetera, things like that. So technology really is key to allow us to keep growing the way that we're growing up down laterally in every direction. And this is what's exciting about working at far fetch, I believe. Um And quickly I will talk you through um uh things that I appreciate um at far fetch. Uh I think something really simple, uh cheap. Uh And it's a new thing that I love is presage the Nata, which are these custard tarts.

I think a lot of you probably know them and, you know, we have them on Wednesdays and I don't know why they taste nicer on a Wednesday at far fetch, but they do, but those are silly things. Um I think flexibility probably is key and I, and I've been here for 12 years and everybody values flexibility now a lot post COVID. But I think we had flexibility way ahead of um you know, the situations that have uh instilled this nowadays in, in companies. Um We've always had give back days so we can take, you know, some days off and go work for a charity or do something for somebody else. Um We've got extra days off for taking care of ourselves if we really just feel like we need to take care of ourselves and we do and those are over and beyond holiday allowances. Um I haven't taken advantage yet of um the boomerang sabbatical. So every five years we have paid leave, um different formulas for that, you know, one month, two months paid leave so that we can really recharge. So if we've been here for that long and far fetch, we can go away and recharge, come back fresh and keep giving and keep working and keep, you know, uh uh uh enjoying being here. And I think that's key because I think we all need a break.

We all need a pause and the fact that the company considers that is amazing for me. Um More on a personal note, I was um seriously uh ill a few years ago and I really felt cared for and I, I guess I should have expected it, but it came up as a surprise the way that I was taken care of um at my worst moment in life. And um and that to me, you know, I'll never forget that and it, it, it just adds to, to why I'm here. Um Other things I love uh the ability to criticize constructively. We've always had obviously, you know, personal uh performance evaluations. I'm fond of that. Um I got used to that in London when I worked there, I know in Portugal, you know, not all companies uh or not everybody is used to that, but I loved it that right from day one, we had that because it meant that your work was taken seriously. You, you people were looking at, you know, what you could do, did, do, can do ahead um and discussing that and it's a moment that is precious because it keeps you on the edge of it evolving. But like I said, you know, giving back feedback, uh we are, we, we, we from day one are incentivized to um give feedback upwards, downwards, sideways to the colleague, you know, go, go, go talk about something that we think should change, whether it's, you know, the way we behave with each other or something about the business itself, um or how we, how we go about um technically functionally in our jobs and it's a great ability to, to, to do that.

Now, I'm very conscious that uh actually doing that varies in terms of the social cultures of each country. Um But the fact that we promote that, that we, we, you know, uh push that forward um and have speak up channels that one can take any level of issue to um makes it an all round thing. Um And the company cares about whether we're happy or not. And I love the humus survey. We do it every six months and it, and we able to tell the company how we're feeling. Um And it's precious, I think, and I appreciate that and I appreciate that there's transparency and the feedback on that. Um So those are the things that I appreciate um both positive and, and the ability to, to, to create change and uh why I continue to be here for 12 years. So if anybody wants to ask me any questions, um feel free. Um but this is us full of energy uh always building uh and doing what's never been done um together in a to du du du fashion. So thank you for listening to me. I hope I have been able to transmit my feelings from the heart um to you about far fetch and living in far fetch. Uh I'm just reading the notes on the, on the, on the, on the, on the chat channel.

So somebody from Brazil saying they love the to Deus and the Portuguese pastry. Um Thank you very much. Uh Please get in touch with uh with us whenever you want about anything you want to talk about. And uh good luck.