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Is it easy for a woman to dress fashionably from head to toe in crowdfund couture? Yes, and, as it turns out, more and more easily given the growing options. [*Full disclosure: some of these items are still in production, and hence, untested. Others crowdfund campaigns have successfully transitioned to e-boutiques.] What a thrill to receive beta designs straight from the designers’ ateliers. When was the last time you received a hat in a hatbox?
Starting from the top, when milliner Satya Twena learned that the NYC factory where her namesake hats were made was closing, she purchased the business with the help of a kickstarter campaign. 1,379 backers helped Twena exceed her $75,000 target by almost $100,000. Satya Tweena hats are custom-made, über natty and arrive in a hat box.
If you prefer to keep a lower profile, consider wearing polarized bamboo burnt. sunglasses. Get your “wood on” with a pair of Canadian burnt. Chestermans. They float too.
Wearing a Paskho Featherweight Cashmere/Modal Tank and Henley designed by former GAP designer and industry maverick Patrick Robinson will turn heads. If the Henley and Tank look only half as amazing on you as they do on those models, there will be many more buyers than Robinson’s project’s original backers that helped him exceed his $50,000 goal by almost $19K.
Even with a wide range of jean choices, opt for PARKE denim. PARKE’s premium active denim, made in NYC, remains noteworthy for their “high quality craftsmanship and exceptional fit.” The Women’s Skinny Fit pays homage to Jean Shop’s styling. Former Goldman Sachs banker Solomon Liou ran two successful kickstarter campaigns raising nearly $300K for his jeans, runs an e-boutique, and just listed on angelList, a US website for raising equity or debt investments for startups limited to accredit investors.
With its successful campaign ending January 2013, London-designed Manuka magnetic belts , were distributed to qualifying kickstarter backers at the end of last year and received positively. With their wide-ranging color palette and make-your-own design option, these unisex belts cinch sleekly.
Underneath it all, consider Catalina Girard’s Naja, scintillating and socially-conscious lingerie http://shop.naja.co. Partnered with the Golondrinas Foundation, Naja’s Underwear for Hope helps educate single Colombian mothers to learn marketable skills. Naja then employs these women so they can become independent and support their children. Your purchase provides dual support! Check out the elegant Noir de Noirs line or Naja’s retro, modern Secret Life of Sparrows line. As a result of Girard’s successful kickstarter campaign, two investors invested an additional $80,000 in her company.
LA’s rising cobbler Stephanie Nicora Fryslie, owner of Nicora Johns’ planet-friendly, American-made shoes, will help you “walk in style with a lighter carbon footprint.” While partial to the new sandals and the handcut wood Priscilla platform sandal, the lace-ups and flats also look stylish and comfortable.
Lastly, carry a bag to complete the current crowdfund fashion look. I suggest the the handmade Sturdy Brothers waxed cotton Tote , a leather-strapped riff on the LL Bean classic. With 17 days left to go on the Sturdy Brothers campaign, pledgers have helped brothers Ben and Spencer Young swiftly exceed their $3,000 goal by 263%.
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Erin Hobey taught college literature and writing for several years. She currently serves on the board at Hopewell, a therapeutic farm community in Cleveland. She graduated from Brown, was a Bosch Fellow in eastern Germany, and then earned her MA from Dartmouth. Food, fashion and film crowdfunding particularly interest Erin; she looks forward to exploring creative projects. Erin may be contacted via email at CrowdfundInfo@gmail.com or Twitter.
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