144 - Liz Rossof of Betabrand - The Crowd Loves It

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Crowdfunded and crowdsourced apparel design with Betabrand…

Liz Rossof (bio), Director of Think Tank for BetaBrand (a retail clothing company and crowdfunding platform, based in San Francisco), joins Pavan Bahl, Marc Raco and Rob Sanchez. Visit BetaBrand at betabrand.com/fashionbizshow

Horizontal corduroys, a wave of energy, and a Think Tank

Rossof reveals how the genesis of Betabrand was built around the idea of a company from people’s ideas and corduroys. A great Snack Time “spread” makes the Top Five! Dialogue with future customers, following designers, targeted emails to 1 Million+ subscribers, voting, how robust and functional the back end is, and why Betabrand emerged as a play into crowdfunded presale that is experiencing great wave energy and momentum. Rossof continues on how the difference is in manufacturing, and developing a brand off of that. Plus, two funnels to get to manufacturing, and the “humor play”.

Defining the designer, gamifying and click farms, and an academic path

The meaning of designer, and how much is enough experience, how sophisticated a design must be to be accepted by Betabrand, from cut and sew to new idea to Insta-shirt or Insta-dress. Why there are no children in the Think Tank anymore, the minimal level of who the gatekeeper for ideas are, and the number of submissions and max capacity to process and manufacture ideas. Whether designs get shut down, policing gamefying and click forms, click farms, informed decisions about inventory and size ranges based on crowdfunding, and how this method might school other brands. Should there be a track only for manufacturing in the US, the way designers can communicate with audience and let consumers decide what they like and want, delivery expectations, yoga pants, SEO and ecommerce science and team, and democratization of trend. How Betabrand could help motivate originality in young designers who are coming into industry and mentorship, student tracks for designs, and whether a wholesale market approach makes sense.