Chiara Ferragni: world's most successful fashion blogger on playing 'the game', building a brand and making millions from shoes
Chiara Ferragni doesnt do things by halves.She does them by the million.She has over 5 million Instagram followers, over 1 million Facebook likes.Her blog-turned-lifestyle website, The Blonde Salad, boasts 6 million monthly page views.Her revenue projection for 2015 is $9 million (about £6 million).Not bad for a 28-year-old fashion blogger.
She started The Blonde Salad in 2009 (the moniker is courtesy of her hair colour and mixed-bag of interests) on the back of her significant Flickr following – she had been using the image-hosting site since 2007 to post her daily outfits.She, with the help of then-boyfriend Riccardo Pozzoli, found her footing in the then-relatively-unpopulated style blogging arena quickly and lucrative offers to partner with fashion brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton soon began to flood in.
Four years into studying - and three exams away from completing - an International Law degree at Milans Bocconi University, Ferragni decided to put all her focus onto the blossoming venture.
It was worth it.The Blonde Salad is no longer an outfit-tracking, day-to-day log of her life, its a full-blown lifestyle site with its own editorial team.Ferragni herself is now considered one of the most influential figures in the industry, commanding thousands in appearance fees,never wearing the same outfit twice (yes, never) and constantly being photographed as she jets around the world.Shes no longer just a blogger, shes a digital entrepreneur.But it is a side-project that has seen her financial worth rocket; the Chiara Ferragni Collection shoe line.
Started two-and-a-half years ago by Ferragni, Lorenzo Barindelli and Paolo Barletta, the range incorporates styles including glitter-caked skate shoes, to velvet smoking slippers emblazoned with emojis and biker boots.
“When we started it was just a game,” Ferragni admits when we meet in London, where she is feting the brands first pop-up shop in Selfridges.“They were the shoes I wanted to create but there was no real idea behind it.”
Theyre much more than that now.Last year they accounted for 70 per cent of the reported £5 million revenue generated by Ferragni.The remaining 30 per cent came from The Blonde Salad website, its advertising and corresponding brand tie-ups.
It is this impressive statistic that has cemented the willowy Italian as arguably the worlds most successful fashion blogger, and certainly the only one who has managed to translate a blog into a global, money-making brand.
Now more of an artfully highlighted Uptown bronde than a blonde, Ferragni resides in Los Angeles.She boasts a staff – or TBS Crew as she lovingly calls them - of 18, made up mostly of personal friends (despite breaking up in 2013, Pozzoli still runs the business side of things and the pair are still great friends).It is this, she says, that has allowed her to surpass her blogosphere colleagues.
“I could have been like so many other bloggers or influencers who just have their agent and are more like celebrities, but Ive never wanted it to be only like that,” she says.“Of course, I still want that part in my life but I also wanted to create a brand.”
In case you need further proof that shes done just that, consider this.In last 12 months shes become the first blogger to score a coveted Vogue cover, been the subject of a Harvard Business School case study, and been crowned one of the 30 most influential people under 30 by Forbes.
Shes completely unphased by the recent blogger backlash thats swept the internet.When Australian blogger Essena ONeill recently denounced not only her own social media presence as wholly false and incredibly misleading but those of many others, the blogger bubble looked frighteningly close to bursting.
Its all “part of the game”, says Ferragni.And its a game shes winning, perhaps because of her so-positive-it-hurts mentality.
“Of course, you decide which story you want to tell,” she says, “for me its been very authentic so sometimes Im super happy and I post four pictures one after the other, sometimes Im busy and I dont, sometimes Im sad and I post a sad picture.”
In fact, she finds the less frequently she posts on social media, the more interested her followers are when she does.
“I mean, maybe [the bubble will burst] but there will be something else,” she ponders.“As long as youre ahead of a trend I think youre going to be fine.You really have to have a multitasking mind that can switch form one thing to the other easily without too much focus on oh Im going to Instagram my life.In a few years we might not still be into Instagram, but hopefully Ill be into the next thing and have fun do it.”
Indeed, she got into blogging long before it became oversaturated and when she started out Instagram didnt even exist, so she knows how quickly things can change.The photo-sharing app has started a new breed of social influencers, she says, who have superseded bloggers, one of whom is her younger sister, 22-year-old Valentina.
“She started an Instagram two years ago and she almost has 1 million followers and she doesnt have a website or blog,” she explains.“She posts similar to what I post and shes started getting her own projects because people like her style and like following her.So I think there is room for everyone as long as you have an alternative voice and you have something to say to the people.”
This new kind of competitor doesnt bother her though.“It gives you so much motivation, at least for me.Where other people can get jealous I feel like its amazing to see other people succeed as long as you want to do better,” she says with the confidence of someone who has, so far, bettered everyone inher field.
Its a confidence that has certainly come with success, but it"s also thanks to a mini-epiphany she had three years ago.“I woke up one day and was like I love what Im doing and Im super proud of what Ive done so far.I dont want to care anymore, I just want to do it my way and people are probably going to be fine with that.Since that moment, since you really dont care so much about what other people think, you are just so relieved and everything is just so much easier,” she says, again with only the gusto that someone whos successfully achieved such a thing can.
At 28 shes accomplished more than she could have ever imagined and she wants to share her message: anything is possible.
“Of course, youre always going have people against you but sometimes its part of the game ...I dont want to inspire people just to be bloggers, it can be in any area.As long as you want to take risks and are very passionate.Ive always been very passionate about what I do, and I think it shows in what I do.” It certainly does.