CEO Talks: Maximilian Bittner Takes Vestiaire Collective on New Tech Turn

HONG KONG — “At the moment, it’s a fashion company, and it needs to be a fashion tech company,” said Maximilian Bittner, Vestiaire Collective’s new chief executive officer. Three months into the role, the 40-year-old was sitting in the company’s office here, explaining his vision for the pre-owned luxury platform. Coming as little surprise to anybody familiar with Bittner’s background, the plans are ambitious. Bittner most recently served as the head of Lazada, the Southeast Asian e-commerce operator, which was eventually sold to Alibaba Group, and most recently valued at $3.1 billion. Turning his attention now to a smaller, niche company, he wants to shape Vestiaire Collective into a data-centric, mobile-driven, and Gen Z-focused business. “Vestiaire has been absolutely fantastic over the last 10 years to have that fashion DNA,” said Bittner, who took over from the company’s cofounder Sébastien Fabre. “They bring that across in the styles, editorials, curation, authentication and that’s why fashion insiders are buying Vestiaire. But I really bring the tech background.” Among the items at the top of his agenda: changes to the commission structure which will roll out in the next four to six weeks. Right now, for its C2C business, Vestiaire takes a 25 percent cut, and

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