Catwalk Genius

Business type

Crowdsource

Service/product description

Catwalk Genius introduced the concept of ‘crowd-funding’ to the fashion industry. In short, anyone may buy shares in a new fashion collection. The funding collected is used to create a clothing range and the revenues from its sales are shared equally between designer, supporters and Catwalk Genius. Supporters are given perks in return for their support, such as signed design sketches or seats at a catwalk show.

What does 'openness' mean in this case?

They enable the public to decide democratically about the kind of fashion that gets made, as opposed to the fashion media. Any fashion designer with production capacity may join the scheme, although there is an approval stage to ensure the quality of their work.