As Fab.com Hits Year One, It Enters the U.K. Through Acquisition

Within the past year, Fab.com has hit a lot of milestones: 1.8 million products sold, 4.75 million members and, now, three acquisitions.

The acquisition being announced today on the company’s blog is Llustre, a U.K. copycat of Fab that is identically focused on selling home decor, apparel and other items from independent designers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Fab previously purchased Casacanda in Germany and FashionStake in the U.S. to launch a clothing vertical.

Given that Fab has only been around for a year and has seen such significant growth, it appears to have identified just what consumers want: Hard-to-find, quirky and stylish products, gadgets and clothing that are not easily found in Target, Walmart or even on Amazon.com.

The inventory may be shallow, but the product types are vast. Yesterday, the site was selling earphones shaped like bullets, vintage-looking vases, toilet seats that function as bidets and motion-activated cameras for the outdoors. In other words, it’s a hipster’s paradise.

It took Fab four months to hit one million subscribers, six months to hit 1.5 million and 12 months to hit 4.75 million. Fab has not been shy about its successes over the past year, and has raised lots of capital along the way, including a $40 million round in December from Andreessen Horowitz and others.

Now, Fab is claiming it is entering Europe in a serious way, and expects the region to contribute about 20 percent of the New York-based company’s sales this year. Fab is now shipping to 20 countries; it has 360 employees in five offices, including New York, Berlin and London.

Llustre has also moved quickly since launching only two months ago. Founded by Tracy Doree and Vivienne Bearman, it has 25 employees, works with more than 500 designers; membership and orders have tripled in the past five weeks to some unknown quantity.

Starting today, Llustre will become Fab UK. Doree and Bearman will remain on board, heading merchandising and product and operations, respectively.