Inside The Fashion Vault: How Irene Gaspar is Redefining Luxury for Modern Women
For those who don't know about you and your work, can you tell us who you are, and where your business is based?
I am a Macau based stylist with a background in fashion merchandising, last year I launched The Fashion Vault, a long-held dream of mine to create an oasis from fast fashion and mass consumerism, featuring a curated collection of pre-owned, ultra-luxury goods at an accessible price and within a seamless shopping experience.
What was the main inspiration behind starting your business?
15 years ago, I left my job as fashion merchandiser and followed my husband to Asia, but I struggled to find a job in fashion due to being unable to speak the local language, after multiple rejections I decided to work as a personal stylist to affluent business women, I enjoyed this very much, but I wanted to share this with more people and found that creating The Fashion Vault was the perfect platform to do this.
Who does your business help?
The Fashion Vault was made to help the modern women, we understand the realities of balancing motherhood, career, and personal aspirations. Our goal is to offer guaranteed-authentic standout pieces that are handpicked, offering access to the world’s most exclusive collections at a steal. We aim to redefine what it means to be stylish, sustainable, strong yet undeniably feminine. The fashion Vault is where quality and luxury are not just aspirations but realities.
Can you share with us a time when you failed, and what you learned from that experience to make yourself a better entrepreneur?
When launching The Fashion Vault I was hyper focused on my strengths which are sourcing, logistics and creating the website, but I neglected marketing which is not my strong suit, the result was that it took us a few months to generate traffic to our site. This lesson made me a better entrepreneur as it taught me to surround myself with a team who's strengths compliment my weaknesses.
How do you define success, and how do you measure it in your business?
Success is seeing the excitement within the team when a new exclusive shipment is unpacked and photographed. We measure the success of a collection by it's turnaround time or how much time it spends on the website before it's sold.
How do you stay motivated and focused on your goals, especially during the tough times?
I'm passionate about my business and that makes it easy to be motivated, but remaining focused can be difficult sometimes, I find that separating a big project into smaller measurable tasks with set time lines helps to keep me on track and accountable.
What do you think are the key qualities that every successful entrepreneur should possess?
Determination, integrity, a strategic mindset and most importantly not being afraid to fail.
What role do you think technology and digital innovation play in the success of businesses in your industry, and how do you stay up-to-date with the latest trends?
Technology and digital innovation play an important role for the online fashion industry in terms of analytics and to customize advertising. We stay up to date by attending industry expositions and by researching regularly.
Do you use any particular software or tech tools to make your life easier at work?
We use AI to make time consuming processes like creating product description.
What do you think sets your company apart from others in your industry, and how do you plan to continue to differentiate yourself in the future?
We operate with a boutique mindset, featuring hyper focused luxury curation to a very specific market segment of women. We plan to continue evolving and aim to introduce several new micro-luxury brands onto the platform within the next year.
What do you think sets your company apart from others in your industry, and how do you plan to continue to differentiate yourself in the future?
We operate with a boutique mindset, featuring hyper focused luxury curation to a very specific market segment of women. We plan to continue evolving and aim to introduce several new micro-luxury brands onto the platform within the next year.
Are you working on any specific products, deals or promotions that people should know about?
We have several promotions including free shipping over a specific spend, and an introductory offer of 10% off of your first purchase.
What does the next 12 months have in store for you and your business?
We aim to introduce several exciting luxury micro brands onto the website in the months to come.
