4 ms·

Fabricly (YC W10) launches threadless for fashion and raises money

57 points by arihelgason 16y ago

ramanujam 16y ago
I seriously hope startups stop the 'ly' naming trend. There are already a zillion of those and its not creative anymore.
- Dramatize 16y ago
  The name is pretty awkward to say.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- hristov 16y ago
  Yeah, it would have been much better if they named it fabricity.
  - zach 16y ago
    I would have loved if they called it Fashter.
- groby_b 16y ago
  But it so startuply to do that! ;) (Also, be glad it's not 2004, or it'd be fabrc or fbric ;)
- tjriley82 16y ago
  I somewhat agree, but I don't think it's such a big deal for the average visitor.
- y549 16y ago
  Oh, please. Step off the ivory tower. Naming trends has and will always be the norm in the business industry -- especially in Silicon Valley. Remember when startups started with X's? Or ended in r's? Or what about exclamation points (e.g. Google's original name)? I could name you countless examples. It's a trend, and will always remain a trend. Startups don't have $100K to hire reputable naming firms, and they're certainly not creative enough at coming up with their own memorable names (otherwise, they'd be in the actual naming industry). I don't fault them for piggy-backing on others if naming isn't within their domain expertise.
rickmak 16y ago
I am curious how those design being produce. There is many restriction on mass producing cloth. And how can I vote on the textile by looking on the photo?
- tjriley82 16y ago
  Fabricly carries out the sourcing and production. The designer only has to worry about design and a joint marketing effort.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
InfinityX0 16y ago
A) As mentioned, -ly is a terrible naming convention. B) This reminded me of this: http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashion_s_free_culture.html http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashio... High fashion frequently succeeds on brand name alone. Knockoffs are allowed to completely copy a style - but since they can't take the brand name, they fail. People buy Se7en jeans because they're Se7en jeans - and that's about 80% of it. The other 20% is because they look good. This startup completely ignores that thought process.
- tjriley82 16y ago
  Oh, we're not ignoring brand name at all. Our first mini-collection is by a relatively established upcoming British label that only has very limited exposure in the US. We have exclusive collections from several other labels coming up. Small labels can find themselves in very precarious financial positions as they try to grow, even after many "successful" seasons. Fabricly is about providing a very low risk route to putting out a collection. Almost like a book publishing model for fashion.
  - andreasklinger 16y ago
    Hi Tom, Congrats to the launch! Isn't the upcoming british label ari's brother? Looking forward to see how you guys will progress. Good to see we are with www.Garmz.com not the only ones tackling this industry problems.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
tjmc 16y ago
I like the concept, but it doesn't mention sizing. It seems like it would be crucial to get your measurements right because there'd be little or no excess inventory. Unfortunately as someone who's done that knows, you don't always get the sizing exactly right. I read a couple of years back about a store in London that was using a laser scanner to precisely measure customers and then making them perfectly fitting jeans for something like £300 a pair. It'd be really cool to see something like that but with an XBox Kinect doing the measurements.
itsnotvalid 16y ago
The plus side, cost would be lowered. However, including me, I don't want to walk off the streets with clothing that look very similar to others. In some ways, clothings that I like may not have enough appeal to others (due to tastes, body shape, occasions, etc.) which may end up never voted enough to get produced. Fashion is not some democratic voting, which minorities and extremes should be respected as much as majors. So in the end, it boils down to whether they can get the amount of "votes" required to be as low as possible, which could enable more designs to be manufactured. P.S. As a side note, shops in China selling through http://taobao.com http://taobao.com can make that happen already by moving the cost of production so low that prior buying is not a requirement, as the cost of keeping stock is very cheap.
mbpr 16y ago
isn't this a relaunch? didn't fabricly originally set out to connect apparel cos with suppliers?
- arihelgason 16y ago
  Yes. We pivoted - here's a writeup about why we pivoted http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Fabricly-com-change-their-business-model http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Fabricly-com-change-their-busin...
aresant 16y ago
http://www.garmz.com/ http://www.garmz.com/ effectively does the same thing in the UK. With both companies why go high fashion instead of mass-market Tween / young buyers style? That would seem like a clearer path to take to get some serious scale and attention, especially with the clear connection to FaceBook / social media you guys have implemented. That feels like a clearer path to exit too - a big box store would LOVE their retail to transcend internet / social media. I'd like to hear your rationale about pursuing high fashion - margins? Built in audience for the boutique designers?
- arihelgason 16y ago
  It's fashion forward without the high fashion price tag. Cutting out the wholesale / distribution costs by going straight from supplier to customer, and not having the capital costs associated with brick & mortar retail makes this possible.
  - fashioncurious 16y ago
    Indeed vertical e-retailing has great margins so why are you only offering "Up to 10%" to the Designers ?

57 points by arihelgason 16y ago

I seriously hope startups stop the 'ly' naming trend. There are already a zillion of those and its not creative anymore.

Dramatize 16y ago
The name is pretty awkward to say.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
hristov 16y ago
Yeah, it would have been much better if they named it fabricity.
- zach 16y ago
  I would have loved if they called it Fashter.
groby_b 16y ago
But it so startuply to do that! ;) (Also, be glad it's not 2004, or it'd be fabrc or fbric ;)
tjriley82 16y ago
I somewhat agree, but I don't think it's such a big deal for the average visitor.
y549 16y ago
Oh, please. Step off the ivory tower. Naming trends has and will always be the norm in the business industry -- especially in Silicon Valley. Remember when startups started with X's? Or ended in r's? Or what about exclamation points (e.g. Google's original name)? I could name you countless examples. It's a trend, and will always remain a trend. Startups don't have $100K to hire reputable naming firms, and they're certainly not creative enough at coming up with their own memorable names (otherwise, they'd be in the actual naming industry). I don't fault them for piggy-backing on others if naming isn't within their domain expertise.

rickmak 16y ago

I am curious how those design being produce. There is many restriction on mass producing cloth. And how can I vote on the textile by looking on the photo?

tjriley82 16y ago
Fabricly carries out the sourcing and production. The designer only has to worry about design and a joint marketing effort.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

InfinityX0 16y ago

A) As mentioned, -ly is a terrible naming convention. B) This reminded me of this: http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashion_s_free_culture.html http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashio... High fashion frequently succeeds on brand name alone. Knockoffs are allowed to completely copy a style - but since they can't take the brand name, they fail. People buy Se7en jeans because they're Se7en jeans - and that's about 80% of it. The other 20% is because they look good. This startup completely ignores that thought process.

tjriley82 16y ago
Oh, we're not ignoring brand name at all. Our first mini-collection is by a relatively established upcoming British label that only has very limited exposure in the US. We have exclusive collections from several other labels coming up. Small labels can find themselves in very precarious financial positions as they try to grow, even after many "successful" seasons. Fabricly is about providing a very low risk route to putting out a collection. Almost like a book publishing model for fashion.
- andreasklinger 16y ago
  Hi Tom, Congrats to the launch! Isn't the upcoming british label ari's brother? Looking forward to see how you guys will progress. Good to see we are with www.Garmz.com not the only ones tackling this industry problems.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

tjmc 16y ago

I like the concept, but it doesn't mention sizing. It seems like it would be crucial to get your measurements right because there'd be little or no excess inventory. Unfortunately as someone who's done that knows, you don't always get the sizing exactly right. I read a couple of years back about a store in London that was using a laser scanner to precisely measure customers and then making them perfectly fitting jeans for something like £300 a pair. It'd be really cool to see something like that but with an XBox Kinect doing the measurements.

itsnotvalid 16y ago

The plus side, cost would be lowered. However, including me, I don't want to walk off the streets with clothing that look very similar to others. In some ways, clothings that I like may not have enough appeal to others (due to tastes, body shape, occasions, etc.) which may end up never voted enough to get produced. Fashion is not some democratic voting, which minorities and extremes should be respected as much as majors. So in the end, it boils down to whether they can get the amount of "votes" required to be as low as possible, which could enable more designs to be manufactured. P.S. As a side note, shops in China selling through http://taobao.com http://taobao.com can make that happen already by moving the cost of production so low that prior buying is not a requirement, as the cost of keeping stock is very cheap.

mbpr 16y ago

isn't this a relaunch? didn't fabricly originally set out to connect apparel cos with suppliers?

arihelgason 16y ago
Yes. We pivoted - here's a writeup about why we pivoted http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Fabricly-com-change-their-business-model http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Fabricly-com-change-their-busin...

aresant 16y ago

http://www.garmz.com/ http://www.garmz.com/ effectively does the same thing in the UK. With both companies why go high fashion instead of mass-market Tween / young buyers style? That would seem like a clearer path to take to get some serious scale and attention, especially with the clear connection to FaceBook / social media you guys have implemented. That feels like a clearer path to exit too - a big box store would LOVE their retail to transcend internet / social media. I'd like to hear your rationale about pursuing high fashion - margins? Built in audience for the boutique designers?

arihelgason 16y ago
It's fashion forward without the high fashion price tag. Cutting out the wholesale / distribution costs by going straight from supplier to customer, and not having the capital costs associated with brick & mortar retail makes this possible.
- fashioncurious 16y ago
  Indeed vertical e-retailing has great margins so why are you only offering "Up to 10%" to the Designers ?