Archive for the ‘clothing’ tag
Bicycle Commute with a Suit [Commuting]
Commuting to work via bike is a great way to get exercise and save on gas money but if your office has a strict dress code it may seem like you can’t both ride a bike and wear a suit. If you’re willing to take a few minutes and pack a more formal change of clothing you can look sharp at the office and still bike commute. More »
clothing reveals the damage of abuse
Credibility and Relentless Focus
“Remain true to yourself and your philosophy. Changing in the face of adversity will in fact diminish your credibility with your customers.
[…] you can’t become credible overnight just on the basis of huge advertising campaigns.
[…] To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail.”
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Fair weather tactics will only take you so far. (and so will fair weather relationships). Short cuts will only net you ill fitting clothing.
Admittedly I combined a few things Armani said in interviews in this quote. His creations and work ethics have remained incredibly disciplined over the years. One detail at a time have now formed a instantly recognizable pattern and style.
Like another fascinating figure in Italian commerce and craftsmanship based in my region (Emilia Romagna), Enzo Ferrari, Armani started his venture in mid life — Ferrari was 48, he was 41.
Overnight success more than twenty-five years in the making.
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AXA Private Equity Puts $248M Into Parent Of German Uber-Private Buying Club BestSecret.com
From over in Germany, news of a cash injection in the fashion world that could have repercussions in e-commerce: the private equity firm AXA has taken a majority stake in Schustermann & Borenstein, a family-owned firm that focuses on exporting clothing, but also operates Best Secret, one of the more exclusive, and (by the sounds of it) lucrative, private buying clubs on the continent. The investment, thought to be worth some €200 million ($248 million), could see Best Secret expand its model beyond its current German home market to elsewhere in Europe, where private buying clubs have been a hit with consumers.
The AXA investment was first reported by Reuters, which noted first murmurs of the deal back in July. The investment values the fashion house at about €300 million ($371 million), and the two families who started the business will continue to hold on to the remainder of the business.
Schustermann & Borenstein has established a business in the area of clothing export to Eastern Europe and other parts of the continent, but it has also built up a business selling clothes at retail level through a members-only model. It has two private stores in Munich, this is where Best Secret fits in.
In an e-commerce market that has largely focused on scaling up to win (recent funding for JustFab and ShoeDazzle’s trumpeting of 13 million members yesterday are only the most recent examples of that), Best Secret takes a completely different approach.
According to Deutsche Startups, the site makes a point of limiting its membership to only 250,000 users — it stops accepting new people after that point until existing members leave — and it only lets people join by invitation. Those invites are generated either by the companies who feed stock into the site, or through other members. Memberships require users to spend a minimum of €150 annually on clothes, and in 2011 the company was reported to have made €60 million in sales.
As for the stock, the site notes that it currently features 7,000 products from 900 brands, covering apparel for women, men and children, with discounts of up to 80% on items.
Online private buying clubs have been a hit with consumers in Europe, with companies like France’s Vente Privee and KupiVIP in Russia. Vente Privee has been looking to take that model to the U.S. as well.
We have reached out to Best Secret to see if it can give us updated figures on its user numbers and revenues, and whether it will be using some of this new investment to extend Best Secret to other markets outside of Germany.
Le Tote launches the Netflix of fashion clothing
A new outfit, as often as you want it, with accessories, for only $49/month.
That’s what new fashion rental startup Le Tote is offering young urban women. And the founders are hoping that women’s rich history of sharing clothes will make the company as successful as some other rental successes.
Netflix, anyone?
“Women only wear 10-20 percent of what’s in their closet,” co-founder Rakesh Tondon explains. “Most women have closets full of clothes they don’t wear.”
(Perhaps I’m way more metrosexual than I thought, or perhaps the problem is not limited to women.)
So Le Tote is trying to solve the problem of variety, without generating the bloat that spawns Hoarders-style rooms full of unused clothing. All while trying to fit inside the tight budgets of young urban women sans unlimited income.
Users sign up for Le Tote at a monthly rate of $49, then fill out a style profile. Le Tote’s stylists (and algorithms) take that profile information and select looks and fashions for you: three garments and two accessories. Then you receive a little Le Tote bag in the mail.
Filling out your Le Tote style profile by favorite stores and magazines …
Just like the Netflix DVD rental business, you can keep the outfit as long as you want. Get tired of it? Send it back to get another one.
Women can send the totes back as often as they want. They can have a new outfit every weekend, and can make special requests, such as no earrings, just skirts, or no tops. But the styles are picked for you, kinda like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.
The clothing itself is not brand name, nor, co-founder Brett Northart hastens to add, knockoffs on famous designer’s clothing. Instead, the fashion is under Le Tote’s own label and is sourced in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.
“We’re buying from wholesalers and manufactures that supply the big boutiques in major cities,” Northart says.
Same Le Tote fashions
And the obvious question about re-using clothing? Tondon says that’s actually not been a problem at all in their target market testing, as women “grow up sharing with their sisters and friends.” In addition, the clothing is laundered and checked for quality and condition after every use.
That alone might incentivize some women to buy more than one membership and give up doing laundry entirely.
Filed under: VentureBeat 
“In the Studio,” thredUP’s James Reinhart Reflects on his Company’s Evolution
Editor’s Note: Semil Shah is currently an EIR with Javelin Venture Partners and has been a columnist at TechCrunch since January 2011. He hosts a weekly TCTV show In the Studio and will now begin a weekly Sunday column, Iterations. Follow him on Twitter @semil.
“In the Studio” opens its doors this week to an entrepreneur who once founded a nonprofit charter management organization for schools in California, spent a summer in management consulting, and eventually stumbled upon a case study experiment in school that gave rise to founding his current startup.
James Reinhart and I met a few years ago in school, and I remember him talking about his new business, inspired by an operations case on Netflix. Over the next few years, Reinhart and his co-founders founded a small company in Boston, raised angel funding, packed their bags for San Francisco, and went through a number of fascinating shifts in their business model and vertical focus before eventually stumbling into something potentially big. And, for a nice touch of symmetry, the company just announced the appointment of two former Netflix executives to the company’s roster, one to lead operations and the other to the board.
Reinhart is the CEO of thredUP, a site where parents can sell their kids’ used clothes using their dead-simple process and/or where parents can buy certified, pre-owned clothes directly from the company. thredUP went through a few fascinating iterations, initially starting out as a service to allow peer-to-peer swapping of clothes, but then they found the most activity was around children’s clothing; then after focusing on the kids’ clothing market, they realized they’d need massive scale in order to capture enough value from those P2P transactions. And, as a result, Reinhart and his team may have stumbled into a big idea as a result of their constant hunt for a larger problem and bigger market, specifically to help working-class families buy and sell assets that are frequently needed and normally expensive to acquire.
In this discussion, Reinhart dissects the thredUP’s trajectory and how he made the key decisions that has taken the company to where it is today, as well as other areas they could expand once the model is proven to have a chance to scale. He is remarkably honest in the video, reflecting on the choices he and his team made and learned from. This would be useful video for any founder focused on marketplaces and online-offline operations and logistics.
Give a New Shirt a Vintage Soft Feel with a Salt Bath [Clothing]
No new t-shirt can feel quite as comfortable and soft as your old vintage t-shirt. If you have a new shirt that could use some softening, clothing company Octane suggest a quick bath in some salt water to fix it right up. More »
Give a New Shirt a Vintage Soft Feel with a Salt Bath [Clothing]
No new t-shirt can feel quite as comfortable and soft as your old vintage t-shirt. If you have a new shirt that could use some softening, clothing company Octane suggest a quick bath in some salt water to fix it right up. More »
iPhone app lets shoppers search by color
Color is notoriously difficult to render accurately on e-commerce websites, making it equally difficult for shoppers to match or find items in particular hues. Enter the LuxeFinds Color Shopping Engine, a new iPhone app that lets shoppers search by color.
San Diego-based LuxeFinds bills itself as a “lifestyle search engine,” and its new iOS app – launched in May – zeroes in on color. The site explains: “No longer do you need to go through rack after rack of clothing to find that blouse in the perfect shade of pink. While on the go, immerse yourself in a virtual shopping mall where you’ll know in an instant if that pair of shoes on the shelf matches your dress at home.” Users can search by color for a variety of home decor, clothing, accessories and other items using LuxeFinds’ free app either by clicking on a color wheel or by snapping a photo of something they hope to match, according to a Cool Hunting report. When they find something they like, they can share it with friends via text, email, pin, post or tweet.
There’s nothing like free love for garnering consumer goodwill, and if it can be in the form of a brand butler they incorporate into their daily lives, all the better. Brands around the globe: how could you help make it easier for your customers to find the products they want?
Website: www.luxefinds.com
Contact: info@luxefinds.com
Spotted by: Dietfreid Globocnik
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neatly folded movie wardrobes
Proving that a classic film’s wardrobe is just as memorable as the characters who wears them, “Sport & Style” magazine photographer Candice Milon has captured the essence of classic film through clothing. Can you guess them all?
