Jeff Bezos: An accidental swimwear influencer?
Amazon king's luxury trunks sell out after summer of love with new girlfriend
Strategic Resource Group managing director Burt Flickinger and Kyriba senior strategy officer Wolfgang Koester discuss Amazon’s growth slowdown, innovation expected from Amazon, and the threat they pose to their competition.
Remember those purple octopus-print swim trunks billionaire Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was spotted wearing over and over again this summer alongside girlfriend Lauren Sanchez? Turns out the shorts also sold out at the speed of Amazon shipping!
Saint-Tropez, FRANCE - Now that their relationship is out in the open, Jeff Bezos and girlfriend Lauren Sanchez showed some PDA on Friday while vacationing in glamorous St-Tropez. (Best Image/Backgrid)
GQ, the men's lifestyle magazine, reported Tuesday that Bezos’ go-to trunks from luxury brand Vilebrequin became a hot commodity after the package king made the vibrant shorts his vacation uniform. The French swimwear is a wardrobe staple for high-rollers in the rich and famous haunts of St Tropez and St Bart's. Fashion search engine Lyst just ranked the swimwear in the Top 10 hottest men's products.
"As seen on Jeff Bezos, the Vilebrequin octopus print swim shorts were searched for on Lyst more than 4,000 times over the past 3 months, while the brand saw a 105% rise in page views this quarter."
The world's richest man, with a net worth of $110 billion according to Forbes, was apparently wearing a 2018 version of the Octopus Moorea Trunks which sell for a whopping $280!
While Bezos' exact trunks are apparently sold out everywhere, fat cats who want to make a splash like Bezos can still buy them in other colors on Amazon of all places!
And if you already own a pair, you may be able to fetch top dollar re-selling them on sites like eBay and Poshmark.
The bachelor life is apparently wearing well on Bezos who only a year ago was mocked after he was declared a "style icon" by The New York Times.
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Celebrity fashion stylist Kristen Robertiello tells FOX Business while Bezos might be an "accidental influencer" in this circumstance, she believes he is an automatic influencer just by the nature of who he is in the business world and could potentially start capitalizing on that. "Anyone who has the influence to sell out on something just by wearing it is absolutely an influencer," Robertiello said.
She anticipates he would have a broad reach among a wide variety of ages and gender if he became a full-fledged influencer.
"It wouldn't just be men interested in his posts, because women often look for inspiration when they shop for the men in their lives."
People take notice of whatever Bezos does, big or small. He created a stir a few years ago when he appeared at a conference looking buff in a quilted vest, skewered on social media as the opposite of the Wall Street uniform.
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Robertiello says influencers like herself are shaping how companies do business.
"The power of the brand ambassador, the power of the influencer is so huge that companies are actually taking away their marketing budgets and reducing them and are reallocating it towards influencers because there is so much power in that. It's a less expensive way to advertise."
She noted that a lot of influencers are just Instagram celebrities, and depending on their following, they can charge anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand per post. A Hollywood A-lister could potentially charge hundreds or thousands or millions if they are viewed as "influential" enough.
When it comes to scoring on social media, Robertiello said that people are showing a preference for less glam or staged photo ops in exchange for low-key snapshots, which seems to fit the aesthetic of Bezos’ Twitter and Instagram – both having 1.1 million followers each.
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Robertiello, also a brand ambassador with influencer platform LikeToKnowIt, says customers are demanding authenticity.
"One of the big things that they’re promoting now is that influencers who are spending all this money on these beautiful shots and are paying to do these beautiful shoots, that’s not selling," she explained. "The number one selling photograph on LikeToKnowIt, for example, is a mirror selfie. So on Instagram, what people want to see is relatable."
"They want that real-life moment. They want to relate to the person that they’re interested in. They want that quick selfie or that family moment or something along those lines instead of something fake."
Vilbrequin and Amazon did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.