Paris Fashion Week to African luxury designers taking control of their resources and outcomes to comprehensive efforts of the Russian fashion industry, in my column I have been covering the search for best practices worldwide. Every runway season brings rumors and proclamations of seismic shifts and tectonic changes! Much of it is hype, which makes this story all the more valuable! BETABRAND is one of the businesses driving both the talk and the practice of change within the fashion industry.
It started with a counterintuitive idea of participatory design and now boasts millions of sales and thousands of products in real time development. It publishes digital 3D renderings of concepts and invites users to provide feedback and input until the final product is available for purchase. A niche outlet for shoe and bag design enthusiasts has grown into a major fashion platform in partnership with VF Corporation and Li & Fung, two of the world largest manufacturers working with the likes of Timberland, North Face, Smart Wool, Nike, Disney, Wrangler, and so on. That’s as industry as it gets; and the list keeps growing. I had an opportunity to sit down with Chris Lindland, Founder and CEO of Betabrand, to discuss pros and cons of current retail models, how the most outlandish ideas stabilize business cashflow and if the value of fun and risk in the workplace is overrated.
Stephan Rabimov: Does this moment feel to you like the dawn of a new era in fashion?
Chris Lindland: Yes indeed! The Internet is enabling the industry to rethink the relationship between supply and demand. At Betabrand, we welcome consumers into the design department to create what they REALLY want before we make it. They’re guiding our decisions down to the last stitch.
In a sense, virtual fashion is disrupting the physical practice of fashion…
Virtual design can come to life far faster than physical products. Thanks to incredible advances in visualization software, we can show consumers what products will be, in lifelike detail, before we even make the first sample. This design went from concept to sale in under 5 days.
How does your team work with designers and consumers?
All products evolve from a series of decisions made by designers and merchants. What’s novel about our approach, is we invite consumers in discussion. Say we set out to make a pair of high heels. We first ask what heel style people are interested in, then start sketching and sharing from there. Consumers vote on design details, fabrics, and colors along the way and a product comes to life before their very eyes.
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Ever had a design idea you were sure would “break the Internet”? Ever had to alter your favorite garment to make it better? What if you could collaborate with your favorite brand directly? E-commerce and social media have impacted the way people behave as consumers. Fashion is rapidly become a team sport. From power players competing with emergent talent at Paris Fashion Week to African luxury designers taking control of their resources and outcomes to comprehensive efforts of the Russian fashion industry, in my column I have been covering the search for best practices worldwide. Every runway season brings rumors and proclamations of seismic shifts and tectonic changes! Much of it is hype, which makes this story all the more valuable! BETABRAND is one of the businesses driving both the talk and the practice of change within the fashion industry.
It started with a counterintuitive idea of participatory design and now boasts millions of sales and thousands of products in real time development. It publishes digital 3D renderings of concepts and invites users to provide feedback and input until the final product is available for purchase. A niche outlet for shoe and bag design enthusiasts has grown into a major fashion platform in partnership with VF Corporation and Li & Fung, two of the world largest manufacturers working with the likes of Timberland, North Face, Smart Wool, Nike, Disney, Wrangler, and so on. That’s as industry as it gets; and the list keeps growing. I had an opportunity to sit down with Chris Lindland, Founder and CEO of Betabrand, to discuss pros and cons of current retail models, how the most outlandish ideas stabilize business cashflow and if the value of fun and risk in the workplace is overrated.
Stephan Rabimov: Does this moment feel to you like the dawn of a new era in fashion?
Chris Lindland: Yes indeed! The Internet is enabling the industry to rethink the relationship between supply and demand. At Betabrand, we welcome consumers into the design department to create what they REALLY want before we make it. They’re guiding our decisions down to the last stitch.
In a sense, virtual fashion is disrupting the physical practice of fashion…
Virtual design can come to life far faster than physical products. Thanks to incredible advances in visualization software, we can show consumers what products will be, in lifelike detail, before we even make the first sample. This design went from concept to sale in under 5 days.
How does your team work with designers and consumers?
All products evolve from a series of decisions made by designers and merchants. What’s novel about our approach, is we invite consumers in discussion. Say we set out to make a pair of high heels. We first ask what heel style people are interested in, then start sketching and sharing from there. Consumers vote on design details, fabrics, and colors along the way and a product comes to life before their very eyes.
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