From fashion to fintech, American fashion designer Alvin Valley partners with HauteLook cofounder Carlota Espinosa and Oracle-acquired InstantService.com founder Damion Hankejh to integrate OnApproval — the “first luxury payment service system” with Uphold in early January.
Having launched in 2015, Uphold serves more than 184 countries to deliver 30-plus currency types including traditional forms and cryptocurrency. Since its launch, it has powered more than $4 billion in U.S. transactions while offering “frictionless foreign exchange for merchants and members around the world.”
The partnership anticipates the formal launch of OnApproval, and it allows its members to “pull goods before paying — providing an in-store shopping experience at home” — by partnering as the alpha merchant with Uphold, the “Internet bank of money,” to onboard 1 million OnApproval members.
According to Hankejh, e-commerce is “ripe for remodeling.” In a separate interview with WWD, Espinosa offered that OnApproval “drives loyalty by reducing payment friction and eliminating the “shopping cart” paradigm, triggering in-store behavior in the home wrapped in personalized customer experience.”
Sometimes noted as the “king of pants” for his extensive design reign in the product category, Valley is in good company with his fellow cofounders of OnApproval. Espinosa is cofounder and vice president of the Nordstrom-acquired HauteLook and Hankejh is a chief
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