From big brands to startups, customization is a trend that has been growing significantly over the past few years and is showing no sign of slowing down. Italy-based company, ALIVESHOES, is taking the whole customization business model one step further, allowing people and brands to not only design their own shoes, but also sell them online in one unique platform.
Users design their own shoe, choosing between 50,000 combinations, then customize labels and packaging before creating their online shop. Once users collect a miniumum of fifteen pre-orders, ALIVESHOES produces the shoes in Italy and ships them directly to their customers within four to six weeks.
The startup was founded in Italy in “the shoe valley”, the oldest region of shoemakers, and has recently moved to Amsterdam to join Startup Bootcamp 2013, an accelerator program based in Europe. The team consists of Luca Botticelli, with more than ten years of shoe industry experience, Michele Torresi, their design guru, and Marco Ferroni, their CTO who has over 8 years of of engineering experience under his belt.
We chatted with Luca and asked him a couple of questions of our own. read more »
Graduating from business school is an accomplishment, but launching and running a startup while in business school? Well, that is something to be proud of. Especially when the startup is as well received as Snapette.
Founded by two Harvard Business School graduates, Jinhee Ahn Kim and Sarah Paiji, Snapette is a mobile shopping app that helps users find and share fashions available in nearby stores. Partnering with over 200 brands and retailers in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo and London, Snapette aims to give shoppers the inside scoop on products, sales, and in-store events. For brands, Snapette acts as a real-time and targeted marketing platform that helps drive foot traffic to stores and grow a customer base.
Having just recently relaunched, we were excited to sit down with Jinhee and Sarah to ask the pair a few questions of our own.
Customization is a huge trend in fashion tech and one company is doing it in a smart and innovative way. Meet Bow & Drape, the company that is allowing women to design their own made-to-order dresses. We are thrilled to have Bow & Drape founder and CEO, Aubrie Pagano, speak on our “Founders Tell All” panel about public relations in the fashion tech space. read more »
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 are thrilled to have Steph Palmeri, Principal at SoftTech VC, joining us in San Francisco for our “Founders Tell All” panel next week to discuss funding in the fashion tech space.
At SoftTech, Steph invests in early stage consumer internet companies, including next-generation commerce, mobile services, and SaaS. SoftTech’s impressive portfolio includes Fab.com, Eventbrite, True & Co, and Twitter (yes, Twitter) to name a few. read more »
Want to know everything there is to know about the state of fashion tech? Grab some popcorn and enjoy our founder, Liza Kindred’s keynote on the subject. read more »
Thanks to Kate Middleton, legwear is chicer than ever – and is definitely a staple in the modern woman’s wardrobe. Yet, they can be notoriously difficult to shop for. They can also be difficult to wear; they snag, run, and are either too cheaply made or too much of a splurge.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Riding the wave of subscription boxes to hit the fashion world, HauteLegs sends stylist-curated packages of exclusively designed tights, leggings, hosiery, and socks every month directly to their subscribers.
Third Wave Fashion spoke with Monica Pratap, CEO and Founder of HauteLegs, to learn about the story behind the company.
Called the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards are the Internet’s version of the Oscars. While high accolades, praise, and gold stars were heaped on Humans of New York, Pinterest, Mashable, Tumblr, the New York Times, and other leaders in every industry, what we want to know is: how did fashion tech do, and what do these awards mean for our industry? read more »
There’s a buzzword we’ve been reading about more and more in the fashion community: crowdsourcing. By this point we know that crowdsourcing is “the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.” (Wikipedia) It’s so popular in the startup community because it’s about the sharing of ideas and partaking in the collaborative process. Let us tell you, this is not a fad. read more »
Money. Every startup needs it, and it’s usually at the most vulnerable, early-stage, high risk point when it needs the most. Tech startups, for instance, are notorious for seeking out a number of different ways of receiving funding including: venture capital, angel investing, and other seed funding opportunities. This is because, typically, these types of startups are too small to raise capital in the public market, so they go to venture capital firms or independent venture capitalists and ask for funds in exchange for equity in their company.
But because venture capital has been less available in recent times, startups have to find the best ways to turn a profit and satisfy stakeholders, and even more more critical, they must be particularly creative and sharp before spending any money at all. Here are 3 things to consider before spending your company’s hard-earned cash. read more »
