About Valerive.

It started with a drawer of dresses nobody was wearing

Not because they'd gone out of style — because they'd been bought a size down, for the version of ourselves we were supposedly about to become. Almost every woman we asked had a version of that drawer, and that question is really where Valerive began: not with a business plan, but with a sewing machine, a handful of patterns cut to fit the bodies people already have, and the stubborn idea that a dress should adjust to you, rather than the other way round.

Today Valerive is a small, Netherlands-based team trading as S Commerce, still close enough to our own product that a fit change gets discussed in the same room it gets sewn. We design and sell women's dresses — from everyday maxi and midi styles to occasion pieces in lace and velvet — and every one of them is built around the same starting question: how does a body actually move sitting, reaching, walking, changing over a year or a decade, rather than how a garment looks flat on a hanger.

We've grown past being just a webshop, but the goal hasn't moved: clothes that make getting dressed feel like less of a negotiation, whether that's a strapless dress that stays up without being pulled tight, or simply knowing a size will fit the way it fit last time.

We're not in the business of telling women what to fix

Sizing charts have been unreliable for longer than any of us have been shopping, and we'd rather design around that fact than pretend it isn't there. So every Valerive piece starts from real movement rather than a flat pattern: fabric with genuine stretch, seams placed where they won't dig in, and cuts that skim rather than cling in the wrong places. Comfort comes first; everything else — the print, the neckline, the occasion it's built for — follows from that.

That same honesty is how we want to run the shop itself. We describe our dresses accurately, including fabric composition and fit notes, on every product page; we price in British pounds with nothing hidden until checkout; and we would rather tell you about a limitation — a fit quirk, a delivery timeframe, a known issue — than have you discover it after your order has shipped.

Company & legal identity, in full

Valerive is a trading name of S Commerce, a company registered in the Netherlands. We sell exclusively to customers in the United Kingdom at present, which is why this page — and the rest of the site — is written in UK English, priced in GBP, and built around UK delivery and consumer protection rules alongside the Dutch and EU law that governs the company itself.

Women's dresses, sold directly, with a clear path from browse to bag

Valerive's catalogue is entirely women's dresses and dress-related accessories: maxi, midi and mini dresses, occasion and evening styles in lace and velvet, and everyday summer dresses — currently around twenty styles, including pieces such as the Acia Lace Dress, Bella Maxi Dress, Fairy Maxi Dress and Zirella Summer Dress, each shown with genuine product photography, a full size guide and honest fabric details.

What you see at checkout is what you pay

Every price on valerive.com is shown in British pounds (GBP) and includes VAT where applicable. As a Netherlands-established seller shipping to the UK, we apply UK VAT rules for overseas sellers: for parcels valued at £135 or less, UK VAT is included in the price you pay at checkout and no further charge is collected on delivery. On the rare order where this threshold does not apply, any import VAT or duty due is collected by the courier before delivery, and we will always try to flag this in advance. Shipping is currently free on every UK order, and there are no hidden fees added between your bag and your confirmation email.

Checkout runs entirely on Shopify's PCI-compliant payment infrastructure. We do not store your full card number, and every transaction is encrypted in transit.

Changed your mind? You have longer than the law requires

Under UK and EU distance-selling law, you have a statutory right to cancel an order within 14 calendar days of delivery, without giving a reason. We go further: Valerive offers a 30-calendar-day return window from the date your order is delivered, giving you time to actually try the dress on and live with it, not just unwrap it. Once we receive your returned item back in its original, unworn condition, we aim to process your refund within 10 days — well inside the 14-day maximum that both UK and Dutch/EU law allow for refunding a cancelled order.

Full step-by-step return instructions, condition requirements and any excluded items are set out in our Return & Refund Policy. If a dress arrives faulty, not as described, or damaged in transit, this is separate from — and additional to — the above: you remain entitled to a repair, replacement or refund under the legal guarantees described in Section 8.

Two legal systems, and where each one protects you

Because S Commerce is established in the Netherlands and sells to customers in the United Kingdom, both UK consumer law and Dutch/EU consumer law are relevant to your purchase. Here is exactly what each one guarantees.

Your data, and everyone's ability to shop with us

We collect only the personal data needed to take your order, deliver it, and respond to you if something goes wrong — your name, address, contact details and order history — and we never sell that data to third parties. As a Dutch company serving UK customers, we apply both the EU GDPR and the UK GDPR / Data Protection Act 2018 to how that information is stored, used and protected. Full detail on what we collect, why, how long we keep it, and how to request a copy or deletion of your data sits in our Privacy Policy.

We also want valerive.com itself to be usable by as many people as possible, including customers using a screen reader, keyboard-only navigation or a high-contrast display. Our current accessibility conformance target, known issues and how to report a barrier are all set out in full in our Accessibility Statement.

A real team, easy to reach, from wherever you are

Whatever the question — sizing advice before you buy, a delivery update, or starting a return — we would rather you asked than guessed.

Reviewed regularly, updated whenever it matters

We review this About Us page at least every 12 months, and sooner whenever our company details, shipping arrangements, return policy or the applicable UK or Dutch/EU consumer law changes. The version in force is always the one published here, dated at the top of this page.