7 ms·

French startups disrupting the way you experience fashion online

61 points by liam_boogar 13y ago

JacobAldridge 13y ago
Definite emphasis in this list on experiencing fashion, as opposed to online shopping. Some eye-catching sites (and products, and prices I presume). So it's probably off topic of me to ask for any thoughts or links for buying great suits online - not invitation-only great, but wearable and stylish. Or does no-one in the Valley wear suits these day?
- retube 13y ago
  > Or does no-one in the Valley wear suits these day? not to be _that_ guy, but there are markets for stuff beyond SV...
  - kd0amg 13y ago
    Sure, but would you ask people here about such things?
- bertil 13y ago
  There are good options on-line for suits (look at CommeUnCamion.fr for an extensive source of mainly lower-end, but still very fashionable offers from the same city), but anything remotely tailored is very much a personality and body-type thing — neither translate that well with on-line photos; the whole point of a (classic) suit being to shroud imperfections in dark cloth, i.e. hard to photograph. There are IT-based innovation, like (still in Paris) Costumes Samson, that uses 3D imaging of your chest for a perfect cut (roughly three-to-four numbers for a suit); they have a web presence, but the added value is still in-shop. Is anyone in the Valley wearing suits? There certainly are, fewI presume — but it doesn't really matter in Paris, where every entrepreneur wears: dark suit, white shirt & jeans no matter what; and where having a well tailored of any of these three is a great conversation starter.
- omarkassim 13y ago
  I suggest checking out KnotStandard, http://www.knotstandard.com/ http://www.knotstandard.com/
- elorant 13y ago
  Try these: http://www.mrporter.com/ http://www.mrporter.com/ http://www.luisaviaroma.com/index.htm?userlang=EN http://www.luisaviaroma.com/index.htm?userlang=EN http://www.stylebop.com/gr/men/ http://www.stylebop.com/gr/men/ http://www.matchesfashion.com/mens http://www.matchesfashion.com/mens http://www.eu.forzieri.com/ http://www.eu.forzieri.com/
- abenga 13y ago
  Indochino
- r888888888 13y ago
  StyleForum and reddit /mfa/ would both recommend SuitSupply. For the cost they're hard to beat.
finishingmove 13y ago
I wonder if something like hemingwayapp.com could disrupt the way people use the phrase "disrupt the way"...
- bertil 13y ago
  LinkedIn made a great report, a year ago, I think, on what words were over-used in CVs; not sure if they compared it to common English, or click-though of the profile. I guess Hewingway could do the same, but they'll need your usual reading activity for that: outside of SV/HN, ‘disrupt’ is still mainly something rude you do to a speaker.
poseid 13y ago
I wonder how those sites can keep up with technology compared to Net-A-Porter, Amazon, etc. Paying programmers who can develop such sites looks expensive, and reaching a scale with sales margins is rather difficult I would say.
- adam-_- 13y ago
  I dare say that if anything they can outpace established companies with technology and risk taking, that's one of the benefits of being small and unknown. What will be harder is whether they can break into an industry dominated by "who you know, not what you know" and if they can build enough of a successful reputation and useful connections to compete.
- walshemj 13y ago
  Well higher end fashion has very big markups so margins are a lot better than selling say 2TB drives.
c2prods 13y ago
I really like Dymant. That's an innovative approach, extremely interesting for selling luxury items.
tbarbugli 13y ago
What are this companies doing that you think is so disrupting? I could not see anything really new there. At the contrary they all seem to be doing not anything innovative or new. I checked flink and the app could barely keep up when scrolling so they execution quality is not there either...
aero_climb 13y ago
Guys if you have any questions about Wheretoget.it (my startup), feel free to ask :)
- tbarbugli 13y ago
  It seems like a clone of fashiolista.com (disclaimer: I work there)
Ryel 13y ago
In about 1.5 months I would love to show HN some actual innovation to the fashion space. I'm getting things buttoned up (pun intended) on a startup we're developing in NYC working a full range of bleeding API's and we've done some heavy surgery on the Youtube API in order to add some pretty cool new UI features. Simply put, we are focused on content creation and curation in a simple, tumblr-esque way. As we sit now in a closed 'alpha' stage we have a slick new html5 WYSIWG and hopefully we'll be launching with an interesting feature thats inspired by some older, commonly used html tricks using "hotspots" or "Image Mapping". Essentially we wrap up that under-used html trick and make it easy for the user to do on their own, in their browser or device. And without spoiling the fun of the surprise, we'll be using that feature to monetize content for our content creators (and we've also implemented it directly on videos).
- appledapple 13y ago
  Sounds like you're saying that Youtube content creators will be able to tag items in their videos and this could directly link to say an Amazon affiliate link to buy the product in the video. If so, this sounds like a really profitable idea. How far off am I?
  - Ryel 13y ago
    ;) You have the right state-of-mind. But step back a little and see the bigger picture. Real world implementation of the old affiliate system is high-quality spam in exchange for pennies on the dollar.
- dbalatero 13y ago
  I'd love to see this. Any way you can put me on a mailing list? (My username) at gmail.com.
  - Ryel 13y ago
    Yes, absolutely. Coincidentally I'm working on mailers today but I noticed your email on Github so I'll set a reminder for myself and let you know when I have a mailing list up.
marknutter 13y ago
http://flink.io/ http://flink.io/ iOS only? Not even a website equivelant? I for the life of me cannot understand this strategy. How do you tell your friends to use it? They all have to own iPhones? You don't want your service to be browseable at work or at home on your laptop? I just don't get it.
- tbarbugli 13y ago
  and the iOS app is not even that great...
  - totofrance 13y ago
    would have appreciated a disclosure :) why do you think the app is not great by the way?
    - tbarbugli 13y ago
      too slow to be great (btw what do you mean about the disclosure thing?)
- balbaugh 13y ago
  One example comes to mind, Instagram. Succeeded very much solely on iPhone platform.
- c2prods 13y ago
  In theory, you'd better make ONE awesome iPhone app than several crappy apps/website. Look at Instagram, it never stopped them from spreading. Besides, it helps building the wait in the other markets. That's definitely a good strategy.
- glasz 13y ago
  Cocktailicious is also ios-only. and it's doing good. http://www.cocktailiciousapp.com http://www.cocktailiciousapp.com
- totofrance 13y ago
  Thomas from Flink - We've just launched 2 weeks ago and are focused on iOS (one great app is better than two crappy ones)! We'll iterate on iOS for a few months before launching on other platforms
elwell 13y ago
I'm in a 2/3 French startup. We don't disrupt fashion, but here's a fashion-related example of what we do: http://wesawit.com/events/mercedesbenz-fashion-week-at-lincoln-center-for-the-performing-arts-2014-02-07-52f4fa66734b3 http://wesawit.com/events/mercedesbenz-fashion-week-at-linco... All feedback is greatly appreciated.

61 points by liam_boogar 13y ago

Definite emphasis in this list on experiencing fashion, as opposed to online shopping. Some eye-catching sites (and products, and prices I presume). So it's probably off topic of me to ask for any thoughts or links for buying great suits online - not invitation-only great, but wearable and stylish. Or does no-one in the Valley wear suits these day?

retube 13y ago
> Or does no-one in the Valley wear suits these day? not to be _that_ guy, but there are markets for stuff beyond SV...
- kd0amg 13y ago
  Sure, but would you ask people here about such things?
bertil 13y ago
There are good options on-line for suits (look at CommeUnCamion.fr for an extensive source of mainly lower-end, but still very fashionable offers from the same city), but anything remotely tailored is very much a personality and body-type thing — neither translate that well with on-line photos; the whole point of a (classic) suit being to shroud imperfections in dark cloth, i.e. hard to photograph. There are IT-based innovation, like (still in Paris) Costumes Samson, that uses 3D imaging of your chest for a perfect cut (roughly three-to-four numbers for a suit); they have a web presence, but the added value is still in-shop. Is anyone in the Valley wearing suits? There certainly are, fewI presume — but it doesn't really matter in Paris, where every entrepreneur wears: dark suit, white shirt & jeans no matter what; and where having a well tailored of any of these three is a great conversation starter.
omarkassim 13y ago
I suggest checking out KnotStandard, http://www.knotstandard.com/ http://www.knotstandard.com/
elorant 13y ago
Try these: http://www.mrporter.com/ http://www.mrporter.com/ http://www.luisaviaroma.com/index.htm?userlang=EN http://www.luisaviaroma.com/index.htm?userlang=EN http://www.stylebop.com/gr/men/ http://www.stylebop.com/gr/men/ http://www.matchesfashion.com/mens http://www.matchesfashion.com/mens http://www.eu.forzieri.com/ http://www.eu.forzieri.com/
abenga 13y ago
Indochino
r888888888 13y ago
StyleForum and reddit /mfa/ would both recommend SuitSupply. For the cost they're hard to beat.

finishingmove 13y ago

I wonder if something like hemingwayapp.com could disrupt the way people use the phrase "disrupt the way"...

bertil 13y ago
LinkedIn made a great report, a year ago, I think, on what words were over-used in CVs; not sure if they compared it to common English, or click-though of the profile. I guess Hewingway could do the same, but they'll need your usual reading activity for that: outside of SV/HN, ‘disrupt’ is still mainly something rude you do to a speaker.

poseid 13y ago

I wonder how those sites can keep up with technology compared to Net-A-Porter, Amazon, etc. Paying programmers who can develop such sites looks expensive, and reaching a scale with sales margins is rather difficult I would say.

adam-_- 13y ago
I dare say that if anything they can outpace established companies with technology and risk taking, that's one of the benefits of being small and unknown. What will be harder is whether they can break into an industry dominated by "who you know, not what you know" and if they can build enough of a successful reputation and useful connections to compete.
walshemj 13y ago
Well higher end fashion has very big markups so margins are a lot better than selling say 2TB drives.

c2prods 13y ago

I really like Dymant. That's an innovative approach, extremely interesting for selling luxury items.

tbarbugli 13y ago

What are this companies doing that you think is so disrupting? I could not see anything really new there. At the contrary they all seem to be doing not anything innovative or new. I checked flink and the app could barely keep up when scrolling so they execution quality is not there either...

aero_climb 13y ago

Guys if you have any questions about Wheretoget.it (my startup), feel free to ask :)

tbarbugli 13y ago
It seems like a clone of fashiolista.com (disclaimer: I work there)

Ryel 13y ago

In about 1.5 months I would love to show HN some actual innovation to the fashion space. I'm getting things buttoned up (pun intended) on a startup we're developing in NYC working a full range of bleeding API's and we've done some heavy surgery on the Youtube API in order to add some pretty cool new UI features. Simply put, we are focused on content creation and curation in a simple, tumblr-esque way. As we sit now in a closed 'alpha' stage we have a slick new html5 WYSIWG and hopefully we'll be launching with an interesting feature thats inspired by some older, commonly used html tricks using "hotspots" or "Image Mapping". Essentially we wrap up that under-used html trick and make it easy for the user to do on their own, in their browser or device. And without spoiling the fun of the surprise, we'll be using that feature to monetize content for our content creators (and we've also implemented it directly on videos).

appledapple 13y ago
Sounds like you're saying that Youtube content creators will be able to tag items in their videos and this could directly link to say an Amazon affiliate link to buy the product in the video. If so, this sounds like a really profitable idea. How far off am I?
- Ryel 13y ago
  ;) You have the right state-of-mind. But step back a little and see the bigger picture. Real world implementation of the old affiliate system is high-quality spam in exchange for pennies on the dollar.
dbalatero 13y ago
I'd love to see this. Any way you can put me on a mailing list? (My username) at gmail.com.
- Ryel 13y ago
  Yes, absolutely. Coincidentally I'm working on mailers today but I noticed your email on Github so I'll set a reminder for myself and let you know when I have a mailing list up.

marknutter 13y ago

http://flink.io/ http://flink.io/ iOS only? Not even a website equivelant? I for the life of me cannot understand this strategy. How do you tell your friends to use it? They all have to own iPhones? You don't want your service to be browseable at work or at home on your laptop? I just don't get it.

tbarbugli 13y ago
and the iOS app is not even that great...
- totofrance 13y ago
  would have appreciated a disclosure :) why do you think the app is not great by the way?
  - tbarbugli 13y ago
    too slow to be great (btw what do you mean about the disclosure thing?)
balbaugh 13y ago
One example comes to mind, Instagram. Succeeded very much solely on iPhone platform.
c2prods 13y ago
In theory, you'd better make ONE awesome iPhone app than several crappy apps/website. Look at Instagram, it never stopped them from spreading. Besides, it helps building the wait in the other markets. That's definitely a good strategy.
glasz 13y ago
Cocktailicious is also ios-only. and it's doing good. http://www.cocktailiciousapp.com http://www.cocktailiciousapp.com
totofrance 13y ago
Thomas from Flink - We've just launched 2 weeks ago and are focused on iOS (one great app is better than two crappy ones)! We'll iterate on iOS for a few months before launching on other platforms

elwell 13y ago

I'm in a 2/3 French startup. We don't disrupt fashion, but here's a fashion-related example of what we do: http://wesawit.com/events/mercedesbenz-fashion-week-at-lincoln-center-for-the-performing-arts-2014-02-07-52f4fa66734b3 http://wesawit.com/events/mercedesbenz-fashion-week-at-linco... All feedback is greatly appreciated.