Alibaba’s Evans exits Farfetch board, but it’s business as usual at the e-tail site

It may or may not be significant but Farfetch said on Wednesday that director J Michael Evans resigned from its board as of 30 November.

Evans is president of Alibaba Group and the company said his departure was in “furtherance of the arm’s length commercial relationship” between the two giant businesses. He joined the board back in late 2020 when Farfetch’s partnership with Alibaba and Richemont completed.

It also stressed that the resignation didn’t point to any disagreement with the company or with its operations, policies or practices.

There’s no denying it comes at an interesting time for Farfetch with its share price having fallen over 30% in the last month (and much more since it originally listed its shares), the firm last week cancelling its latest results release and rumours swirling. Those rumours include reports about founder José Neves trying to raise funding, about whether its YNAP deal will go through and whether it might sell assets such as Browns and New Guards Group.

In many ways though, it remains business as usual at Farfetch’s e-tail site with the company only this week announcing that it has collaborated with Dolce & Gabbana to offer exclusive early access to the Flower Power Pre-Spring 2024 women’s collection until 11 December.

The collection is “inspired by the iconic spirit of the 1960s [and] captures the essence of a bygone era while seamlessly infusing modern sophistication”.

This week it also launched Farfetch Beat 012, the second instalment of Nas and Futura’s vinyl trilogy with 12on12. The limited release features a new and original Hip Hop 50 cover – the second in the collectible triptych. 

The unique partnership launched in August with the first release of a three-part vinyl trilogy, “celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and the genre’s rich history and global impact – combining the realms of art, music, and cultural expression”.