To say we are honored to have Brian Sugar, the CEO and Publisher of Sugar Inc., on our “Founders Tell All” panel tomorrow in San Francisco, is an understatement. Not only is Brian a successful and well known entrepreneur— particularly in the world of fashion tech– he also has an adorable family and is the proud father to a newborn baby. read more »
We’re extremely excited to announce that we’ve launched the world’s first fashion tech database. Not only that – we’ve launched the first ever monthly fashion tech reports. Now you can know everything we know!
Our database has over ten thousand data points about more than 650 companies in it – can you believe that? And our monthly report is 38 pages of in-depth fashion tech content including industry news, comprehensive investment information, and detailed trend analysis as well as innovator profiles and our recommendations.
Picture this: You have a great idea for a new fashion tech company–something that will revolutionize the shopping experience– but you have no idea how to develop a website. Who and where do you turn to? Craigslist? Your friend from business school? Your old boss? Thanks to Sahadeva Hammari, there is one simple answer: CollabFinder.
Based in New York, CollabFinder is taking the struggle out of networking and making the process of finding collaborators easier than ever. Users join via Facebook and include their interests, skills and background. You can pitch your idea to other members, or let them pitch their project to you; find collaborators according to interest, skill or location.
Launched with seed investment from Betaworks in early 2013, CollabFinder already has a few success stories under its belt, including the recently buzzed about Art.sy and NYC-founded fashion startup, Maker’s Row. With over 1900 collaborators, and recent partnerships with School of Visual Arts’s Interactive design department and NYC.gov, CollabFounder is making a name for itself in the startup world.
TWF sat down with Sahadeva to get the inside scoop on how CollabFinder works and what the future holds for the company.
The fashion industry is growing at an exponential rate, but it’s not just the big brands that are reaping the benefits; small fashion businesses are popping up everywhere and changing all preconceived notions of how the market’s served. Recently, we produced a piece on the ways crowdsourcing is changing the way fashion startups gain insight and grow in their space. The newest venture that we can’t get enough of, and has seamlessly integrated crowdsourcing in their funding plans, is Manufacture New York. This NYC incubator and factory hybrid is empowering designers through collaborative spaces and access to production.
Continuing on their mission to introduce the latest cutting-edge technology and industry game-changers, TechSeri.es hosted their first Fashion Panel, “Fashion Disrupted: How Tech is Changing the Way Consumers Shop.” The two-hour long networking and panel event, moderated and led by industry veterans, discussed the developments of e-commerce in line with mobile and tablet technologies, the intersection of online and offline in fashion retail, and resulting changes in consumer shopping behavior.
While bite-sized highlights can be found in 140-character portions on Twitter by searching #FashionPanel, what we really wanted to know was: what did our panelists, moderator, and sponsor actually think? read more »
We all love a good party. There’s nothing better than great horde’euvres, some refreshments, and plain ol’ good company. Interestingly enough, these features are typically what make a business/networking event so successful. So why is it that so many startups choose not to host events? It’s an interesting paradigm but we’re siding with ‘you should definitely be hosting more events’. Here’s why: read more »
In the past few years, we’ve seen a number of online jewelry sites popup, making beautifully made jewelry more accessible than ever. We’ve also seen numerous crowd sourcing companies enter the marketplace, helping independent designers find a market for their one-of-a-kind designs. Yet until we came across Shopbevel, we had never seen the two come together.
Founded by Stanford Business School Graduate, Courtney McColgan, Shopbevel works with independent designers to bring the best in jewelry design to market. Designers submit designs, the community votes and Shopbevel produces the selected winners with designers receiving royalties. Shopbevel’s first design challenge, held in January 2012, received 68 entries and attracted over 4,000 votes. Hundreds of design entries later, Shopbevel is on its way to changing the jewelry industry.
Excited to learn more, TWF sat down with the Founder and CEO, Courtney, to ask her a few questions of our own.
We are all familiar with celebrity stylists, such as Rachel Zoe or Nicole Chavez — paid to pick out and put together fashionable outfits for their well-known and high paying clientele. With the launch of Stitch Fix, however, you no longer have to be a celebrity or high-end consumer to have a personal stylist. read more »
Last night we attended WIM Accelerator’s Meet the Innovators: Social Video Marketing event at the Apple Store in SoHo. Some of you may remember our recap of the Social TV event that happened earlier this year and we were thinking the same thing you were: “How’s this going to be different?” Well, it was… completely different.
Here are stories of the companies that participated that helped us embrace the amazing growth and potential in social video marketing. read more »