I can safely say that I had never encountered Garmz.com before the Fash Ed pointed me in the direction of this relatively new website, which claims to be revolutionising the fashion design industry. That's a pretty big claim, so I thought I would have a nosey around to see what was going on.
The homepage, which explains the Garmz process.
At first glance, it does seem like a pretty nifty idea, and one that will appeal to an army of shoppers sick to the back teeth of the same fashion items, in the same chain stores, across the globe.
Garmz offers anyone (no qualifications, work experience, internships etc necessary) with a smidge of design talent to submit their designs to the public website. Then registered users can chew over these designs, vote for the best, and voila! Garmz produces the most popular garments and sells them via the online store: giving the designer unprecedented profit and exposure in a massively competitive industry. Shoppers get to buy something slightly more unique and special, and can sleep soundly in the knowledge that they are helping a fledgling designer on their way to global domination.
I continued my research with a look over the products that have already made it through the judging process and into the online shop. There is a very limited range, with only three items for sale, a few for pre-order, and a few that have just been selected as winning designs. All are elegant and interesting, with clean lines and nice details (a turned up cuff there, a faux-fur collar there) but none are completely groundbreaking. Put it this way, Gaga won't be shopping at Garmz.
The price range ranges between 49 and 279 Euros, which immediately turns me off, because there is an awful lot of polyester listed in the product fabrication. However, there are happy customer reviews under each garment, so there is obviously a loyal Garmz following already (nearly 3000 'Likes' on Facebook, that universal resource for true customer feedback.)
This badly named yet pretty jacket is the most expensive item on the site. It's faux fur, and inspired by a hunting jacket (which is clearer in the original design, below)
The price range ranges between 49 and 279 Euros, which immediately turns me off, because there is an awful lot of polyester listed in the product fabrication. However, there are happy customer reviews under each garment, so there is obviously a loyal Garmz following already (nearly 3000 'Likes' on Facebook, that universal resource for true customer feedback.)
The press have been raving about the site, especially in Europe and the US - even Perez Hilton got involved. I'm sure it's about to get a whole lot bigger here too, but I am genuinely concerned about who is actually going to be profiting from this 'fashion revolution'. As highlighted by Miggy of Miggy Loves The Internet, read the small print and it states that designers will receive 5-10% of the profits if their design is successfully sold. In monetary terms, that means if a garment sells 100 times at £100 a pop, the designer will get £500, whereas Garmz pockets £9500. Something about that doesn't sit quite right, in my humble opinion. Maybe Garmz isn't sticking it to the 'big fat fashion industry', as it claims, and instead, is just another great business idea designed to capitalise on fresh, inexpensive talent.
What do you think? Has anyone shopped at Garmz.com? If so, what was the experience like, and how do you feel about the company's mission?
All images: Garmz
What do you think? Has anyone shopped at Garmz.com? If so, what was the experience like, and how do you feel about the company's mission?
All images: Garmz
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It's an interesting idea, especially for those who don't know how to get that first foot in the industry. But maybe that is all it is, just a good idea.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteUpfront-Disclaimer: i am one of the team members of Garmz.
Thanks for you Feedback on our project. I really appreciate your honest words.
I would love to give you some insights from within Garmz on the points you mentioned. Maybe it is helpful to you or your readers.
What is Garmz:
The idea of Garmz is it to provide Designer with the tools needed to 1) showcase their Talent, 2) to build up a fanbase and reach out to it and 3) to build up demand for upcoming work.
What you currently see on Garmz is the first step of this. We are currently offering sketches as main expression tool. This will be extentend a lot within this year to portofolio tools that are also useful emerging designers and especially fashion students. We currently already have Designers that have a fanbase above 1000 people. Think of the potential to giving every talented emerging designer their first 1000 fans.
Currently we communicate yet only the possibility of uploading sketches to keep it simple and focused. This is of course also targeting creatives and not only educated designers. But we think this is an interesting start for this project.
License Fee:
The license differs depending on the involvement of the designer. If somebody uploads sketches and works with us to finalize the product it is around 5% of each sold product. Excluding all pre-financing cashflow or production/webshop risks.
If a designer can also support further down in the product development process - e.g. provide cutpatterns, help with material sourcing etc. This can go up to 15%. Please keep in mind that we cover the costs, risk, customer care, fulfillment. You need to compare it actually on wholesale prices and not endconsumer prices just to cover the last two of webshop services and customer care.
Press/Revolution:
We don't feel that the press is raving about us. We love the fact that people like our project, but people are quick in shout big names at new projects. Yet it is our job to satisfy this expectations ;)
Also regarding wording. I agree with you that too big words are used. E.g. We try to never use the term "revolutionize". Usually this term is given to us by editors.
You are right it is true that we have a quite direct communication. But it is more targeting against larger retailers copying emerging designers ideas and bringing them washed-out to the market and not the fashion market in general. We love fashion.
Our goal is it to establish a platform or at least support a system where people can emerge based on their talent and not on their network of production financing.
2011 will be an exciting year. A lot of things are happening. If you want to stay in contact or if anybody of the readers has further questions just let me know. My email is ak (at) garmz.com
best wishes
Andreas
Thanks for finally talking about > "GARMZ: A FASHION DESIGN REVOLUTION?" < Loved it!
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