'We're giving you the power to say what gets made' cries the empowering tagline of US start-up Crowdemand, which is garnering a lot of interest for it's revolutionary approach to shopping. Described as 'Kickstarter for clothing designers', the difference is that Crowdemand isn't crowd-funded; it's crowd-responsive.** **Potential customers vote to decide which designs deserve to get made, and if enough people want to wear that sundress, voila. Fashion designers (often emerging labels with a more limited budget) will post a pictures of their samples, and Crowdemand's fashionable consumers will vote on whether they'd buy it - if it reaches a critical mass, the sample gets made, customers get their dress, an up-and-coming designer gets their look onto the street, risk-free.
Like the catwalk, where fashion designers sometimes show 'catwalk' pieces that never make it into the swishy boutiques, Crowdemand offers a chance to 'preview' clothing before it gets made - but this time the power to affect a designer's future lies with the everyday fashion-lover on the street, rather than the reviews of the fashion elite. So we get the opportunity to influence trends, whilst small designers avoid producing designs that wind up as dead stock.
Crowdemand has 20 designers scheduled over the coming weeks, with one collection dropping per week and the 'exposure period' lasting two weeks for each designer (a bit like luxury pre-order site Moda Operandi's limited edition trunk shows.) The debut collection of Crowdemand comes courtesy of well established designer Cynthia Rowley, with new label Whit launching today and Meskita, next week. When you see a piece you live, press the 'Pre-Order' button and pay a deposit. If enough people also press that button, the production wheels start turning and you pay the balance of the RRP. If nobody else is into that spotty skort, you get a your deposit back.
According to co-CEO Yaniv Reeis, Crowdemand lets 'the market reflect what consumers really want'. With prices ranging from £150-£1498, it's not cheap, but it could be your opportunity to buy into the next Alexander Wang of the world. And be able to claim that you were one of the people who discovered him. (Kind of.)
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.