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I disagree. Why would that "trivialize" the work behind building the company? Of course the people involved care deeply about the outcome. But for me, as a tot
by staticelf 10y ago
I disagree. Why would that "trivialize" the work behind building the company? Of course the people involved care deeply about the outcome.
But for me, as a total outsider, this has 0 news worth since from my understanding the company has no real public interest except for their customers and founders/owners. AFAIK the company isn't even public so it isn't like anyone has anything invested in it.
It is for me obvious that the company bankruptcy is covered because of the gender of the founder. Maybe I am wrong, but I don't really see any other reason to why.
- sdnguyen90 10y agoThe company is actually extremely popular among younger women. If you're a male, you aren't really their target market for advertising.
- guitarbill 10y ago> The company is actually extremely popular among younger women. Maybe not that popular if they're going bankrupt?
- sdnguyen90 10y agoFashion is a pretty hard industry especially when you're targeting younger people with less disposable income. If you sell your brand to the mall type retailers, your brand image is pretty much dead. If you don't sell to them, they copy your designs and sell for less anyways.
- RichardCA 10y agoThat's the point, that you can be successful and go broke doing it. The reason fashion is a tough nut to crack is the short business cycle and associated inventory risk. You need to anticipate fashion trends, get product to market quickly, and if you screw up you have to dump your inventory at clearance sale prices and eat that loss. Big retailers are experts at finding ways to manage that risk, and that's why the Forever 21's of the world sell crap clothing made overseas. Seriously, when Britney Spears popularized low-rise jeans, every teenage female in the USA had to go to the mall and change out her wardrobe. When Clark Gable appeared in a movie wearing a men's dress shirt with no undershirt, the market for men's undershirts tanked. How does one plan for that sort of thing within the constraints of a VC-backed company?
- icantdrive55 10y agoI respectfully dissagree. It had nothing to do with the gender of the founder. 0. I glanced at the title, and figured it was a man in charge. I haven't even read the article. 1. Burning through money is becomming too common place. I honestly couldn't read another one of these. 2. I had no idea the founder was female. 3. I don't know anything about the company, but figured it was a sex toy company, or trying to copy Hot Topic. I pictured a bunch of VC's thinking "Ah--underserved demographics? Maybe we could pull off a Victoria's Secret? I used Victoria's Secret as a bad example. I imagine the business concept is more like Abercrombie & Finch. "Those parents have money we can get through their kids? Beautiful?" 4. Just looking at the title, I pictured a founder spending way to much money on the location of the start-up, and asthetics of the work place. 5. In the back of my mind, I thought they might have been better off without all that money, and worked out of someone's garage. (I have a sister that started a shoe company out of her garage, and still doesn't have much of a web presence. She was lucky she was living in Los Angeles. She's pretty, and persuasive. Doesn't have much morality, or ethics, but that's what made her millions--sadly.) 6. I didn't read it because these failures are just starting, and it's too early to hear about another one. 7. I thought VC's were suspose to be about good advice too? 8. I am watching to many companies play business. They get money, and think they are a business. The too nice office. All the typical b.s. 9. Unrelated to this company, but what's up with going after companies that can crush you. I'm being bombarded with "Let it go". I will give them this, at least they spent it on advertising. 10. And maybe I'm completely wrong about the failure of this company? I will read the article now. I hope I'm wrong. I hope they were frugal. I hope the tried to sell something original, and made with quality, and care. I hope they didn't put up a flashy website, and sell a bunch of non-bespoke Chinese crap. 11. So--why did I write this; because it has nothing to do with gender. It has to do with what we are all seeing right now. A lot of excess, and seemingly bad advice from VC's. Oh, yea--most typical Silicon Valley VC's shouldn't advise on fashion.
- RichardCA 10y agoIf you live/work someplace like Los Angeles where "fast fashion" startups are doing a significant amount of tech hiring, it's useful to understand what they do and the difficulty of being "disruptive" in that space. It's also useful, as a man, to have a basic understanding of the fashion industry as part of being an educated human being. You can tell a lot about a woman by how she dresses herself. Especially her shoes. :)
- RichardCA 10y agoHere I found it. If you require an explanation of why fashion is important. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja2fgquYTCg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja2fgquYTCg