#Revolve5x5 @ The Round
It’s the first time in Jamaica for REVOLVE co-founder Michael Mente and VP of Brand Marketing Raissa Gerona. The good news is that it won’t be their last.
“Expectations were high,” Mente shares with SO. “There were quite a few options but Round Hill Hotel & Villas landed at the top of our list… it was perfect and actually exceeded our expectations with its perfect mix of modern luxury and history.”
The cashmere-chic property — an exclusive enclave of luxury Jamaican villas, Ralph Lauren-designed oceanfront rooms, award-winning fare and discreet staff — which has long been the destination of the global fabulocracy, can now add Mente and his global influencers to its already impressive roster. REVOLVE, in the event that you’ve not yet succumbed to online retail therapy, is home to the globe’s most coveted designer apparel, shoes and accessories. Indeed, it was heralded by Fortune as the ‘biggest, trendiest, most profitable e-commerce start-up you’ve never heard of!’
Malaysian-born Mente has no problem keeping it that way. Indeed, he and his partner Mike Karanikolas (he didn’t make the trip), affectionately called ‘The Mikes’ by staffers, have managed to stay under the radar since the launch of the company. Mente, who is 35, tells SO that he was 22 when he dropped out of the entrepreneurship programme at the University of Southern California to venture into the exotic world of Silicon Valley. His dreams were soon shattered, however, as the company he joined folded.
The truism ‘make all the mistakes when you’re young’ rang true as the two went back to the drawing board and landed a bulls-eye with new and emerging designers. The reward was not instant gratification. It took them two years to land the first biggie — 7 For All Mankind. “It was networking and hustling for two years,” shares Mente. The networking and hustling paid off as by 2007 the company carried more than 1,000 brands.
There is no looking back… The Round Hill jaunt will be followed by Shanghai and then back to the States to the Hamptons. Not bad, we reckon, for two dot-com guys who have carved out a sizeable chunk in the billion-dollar fashion industry.
