FashionValet founders Vivy Yusof and husband step down from company amidst controversy

Vivy Yusof and her husband, Fadzaruddin Shah Anuar have released a statement amidst the controversial sale of FashionValet. The duo have apologised and stepped down from their positions adding that they took full responsibility for the failure of the investment by Khazanah Nasional and Permodalan Nasional.

In a statement they said they attempted to expand the business too aggressively, and did not sufficiently plan for a rainy day. “We invested heavily in our own technology stack, grew the team too quickly and added too many retail stores. We made the mistake of scaling the company in anticipation of continued growth, and when the pandemic hit, we were le exposed.”

The two also claimed that they continued to curate a positive and hopeful image to the world thinking that this could maintain a confidence in the brand and products.

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“Most of all, we are very sorry for the controversy this has caused Khazanah and PNB. They have always acted professionally and in the best interest of their organisations.”

The statement comes after the communications minister Fahmi Fadzil urged all those involved to address the public’s concern and asked for transparency.

According to a report onChannel News Asia, Fahmi said naturally people are asking questions and are “starting to see content revealing what may have been going on”.

The spotlight on the issue came after Khazanah Nasional and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) provided a written parliamentary reply that both companies had recorded a loss of RM43.9 million from the sale of their minority investments in the e-commerce platform FashionValet.

The finance ministry also clarified that its investment into Fashion Valet in 2018 was aligned with its mandate at the time to foster local technology entrepreneurs and gain exposure in the rapidly growing e-commerce sector.

According to The Edge Malaysia, FashionValet has been recording losses for the past three consecutive years. As of 31 December 2022, FashionValet incurred a loss-after-tax of RM34.51 million.

In 2022, amidst her closure of Fashion Valet, Yusof told A+M that the decision was made to focus on its best performing portfolios – its house brands LILIT. and dUCK. She added that the closure was accelerated due to COVID-19 woes, where many local brands scaled down their businesses, which diminished supply coming into the marketplace platform.

"It was a difficult decision as we were a platform for local brands for many years. We are proud that local brands used the platform as a stepping-stone and then evolved to have websites and/or shops of their own. We hope FashionValet has done its part in elevating the local fashion industry for over a decade," said Yusof.

Addressing netizens' concerns surrounding the investment, Yusof explained that its investors have invested into the group as a whole, comprising FashionValet and its home brands, and not just FashionValet by itself. The government bodies have also invested in the group following a pitch session held in 2017, organised by The Ministry of International Trade and Industry, to encourage the investment into start-ups.

"FashionValet has done its part for over a decade of wanting to elevate the local fashion industry. I think the news has been sensationalised to be seen as a bad thing, and unfortunately isn't reflective of the actual situation," Yusof had then said.

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