Is Crowd Sourcing the Next Frontier for the Fashion Industry?

Fashion designers create the clothing we find online and in stores. Fashion merchandisers, marketers and editors persuade the public to buy the designs. The consumer finally comes in and selects which designer's garments they purchase. This is the way of the fashion world in a very broad sense. This all may change thanks to an upcoming website called Fashion Stake.

Fashion Designers and Retailers Decide What is Fashionable

Typically, the fashion cycle does not begin with the fashion designer creating a collection. A fashion trend analyst will research entertainment, socio-economic and environmental trends in the world or a targeted area. The fashion analyst will then hypothesize what trends are prevalent and present these findings to the designer or design department. The fashion designer will take this analysis and develop a collection using this information while maintaining their brand identity. Fashion retailers decide which garments from the collection will garner the most profit and will sell them at their stores.

Fashion Stake Places the Consumer in the Cycle

Fashion Stake is not in operation yet; however, the site's home page provides the gist of what the public can expect, "Support a designer. Shape the creative process. Share in clothing and cash." According to Reuters, this new platform will give new designers more exposure and open them to a wider audience. One of the goals of Fashion Stake, is to allow consumers to fund designers. A designer requires funding to produce their designs at the retail level. Even if a new designer has funding, retailers are usually reluctant to take a chance on them. Not because the clothing is not of good quality or style but retailers rely on brand identity and a new designer has yet to establish this in the public consciousness.

Fashion Stake also puts consumers inside the creative process. Consumers can vote on designs allowing them to influence the creative direction of a designer. By providing funding and influencing the designers work, the consumers get the opportunity to purchase the clothing at a reduced price. Curt Hopkins in an article featured on Read Write Web states that when the consumer funds a designer he or she earns credits towards purchasing that designer's apparel.

What This Could Mean for the Fashion Industry

By establishing consumer-driven fashion, the influence of high profile fashion editors, retailers and fashion houses may reduce. Not only would this affect the creative "say so" of designers and retailers but it could trickle down to fashion models as well. With the constant criticism designers and fashion editors face over the predominate use of thin models; consumers may be able to effectively steer the industry away from this trend.

There are a myriad of possibilities if crowd-sourcing fashion were to take off. There is the possibility of high profit for Fashion Stake and new designers. Time will tell if the fashion industry, as a whole, will take to this idea or not. This fashion designer and writer sees promise and knows there is room for such a platform. I know how hard it is for new designers to get their creations out to the public. Fashion Stake just may be what the fashion industry needs to add fresh faces and creativity to the mix.

Sources

Hopkins, C. (2010, April 1). Fashion Stake Crowdsources Haute Couture. Retrieved April 2, 2010, from Read Write Web: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/fashion_stake_crowdsources_haute_couture.php

Krudy, E. (2010, April 1). New website brings crowd sourcing to fashion. Retrieved April 2, 2010, from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6303LR20100401?type=technologyNews