Recap of Fashion2.0 Meetup Event

Posted by Darren on Jul 29, 2009 • (Comments)

fashion20I’m not going to recap the entire event play by play, but do want to highlight some of the interesting tidbits.  The hashtag (twitter) for the event was #fashion20, so you can follow the tweets here.

Of the 5 companies presenting, I found 3 of them interesting – they just happened to be the B2C plays.  There were 2 B2B plays, but since I’m not a fashion designer or retailer, it didn’t strike me as interesting (but I sure can see their value proposition).

In no particular order:

Pier Eleven:  These guys are trying to merge art and fashion by releasing t-shirts with artists designs on them.  I think that this is interesting if they are limited edition and the artists are of fame.  Pier Eleven is applying dynamic pricing which is novel, in the sense that the price rises for each additional t-shirt sold.  If you are looking to get access to PierEleven.com, the access code is “Whoareyouwearing?”

iStyle Media:  I think these guys have a lot of promise, but they didn’t talk about their company the right way which led to many of the “investor” panel to ask “wrong” questions.  I can’t stress how important it is to position a company the right way and these guys missed the boat.  Anyway, iStyle Media is a Facebook application that allows people to tag pictures based on the clothing they are wearing and find other people who are wearing similar clothing and learn about different styles.  iStyle Media can help consumers in fashiondiscovery phases and also, recommendations.

ProperCloth:  I was looking forward to meeting these guys as I am on a MEconomy kick and custom shirts are part of that.  These guys have a very intuitive and easy to use online interface where people can order custom shirts.  What I like about this is that if you have a shirt that fits really well from a major manufacturer such as Theory or Hugo Boss, ProperCloth can match the same sizing specifications.  These guys also provide some great finishing details as well.

All in all, it was a great meetup.   More people that I expected and some great conversations post.

@yuliz and @mikepratt did a fantastic job organizing.

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  • Darren

    Enjoyed reading your take on the night! Here is my recap for NYConvergence.com:
    http://www.nyconvergence.com/2009/07/fashion-20s-startups-showcase-more-business-than-fashion-model.html

    Cheers,
    Gloria
  • Name
    Hey Darren

    Enjoyed reading your take on the night! Here is my recap for NYConvergnece.com:
    http://www.nyconvergence.com/2009/07/fashion-20s-startups-showcase-more-business-than-fashion-model.html

    Cheers,
    Gloria
  • Darren. I think your comments are great.

    My two cents on these three companies.

    I've known Seph at ProperCloth for a little while now. I think he is a fantastic entrepreneur who is on his way to building an incredible company. I've learned a lot from him.

    iStyle - Mike Albanese is really onto something. I agree that refining his pitch will help - but that's a much better situation than having a great pitch and a crappy business model. I mentioned to Mike that investors love comps and he should compare iStyle to Polyvore because it similarly involves self expression but is better than Polyvore - iStyle has built in virality and monetization.

    Pier Eleven - Who knows if this concept will work but it's an amazing idea. I'm going to be watching these guys really closely. The challenge whenever you do something completely new is who do you target? Art folks or fashion folks? I think the answer is probably art - they wear clothes. Lots of fashionistas have little or no interest in the art world.
  • Thanks for the feedback and the for including us in your top 3.
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