Fan-funded fashion designers

Catwalk Genius is a fitting name for a company which has made history by pioneering the concept of ‘crowd-funding’ in the fashion industry. Any permanent residents of the UK or Ireland aged 18 or over, may buy shares in a designers new fashion collection. 'Shares' in a designer can be bought for as little as £11 each, until 5,000 shares are sold and the funding collected is used to create a clothing range. The revenues from its sales are shared equally between designer, supporters and Catwalk Genius and fashion fans are given perks in return for their support, such as signed design sketches or seats at a catwalk show.

The site is also running an affiliate scheme offering 10% commission on the profits of any goods that are sold through ads that users run on their personal web spaces.

Helen Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of Catwalk Genius, says it was an interest in the motivation behind behaviour that attracted her to the company’s central idea of connecting people with fashion brands in an engaging way. It was this interest which led Brown to approach designer, Georgette Williams, founder and designer of Georgie W Couture, after reading about her on a fashion blog.

I had never heard of crowd-funding before I was approached by Catwalk Genius, Williams told Company: “The owner, Helen, had read about me on a fashion blog. She emailed to tell me that she was launching an online boutique and asked me to participate. She would read about crowd-funding in the music industry and thought the idea could work in fashion, too. People who like my clothes can purchase shares in my next collection for £10 a share. If they buy five shares, they get a 10% discount when they buy clothes I have designed. When all the (5,000) shares have been sold, I make the collection and investors receive a third of the profits. My designs proved popular on the site and, when crowd-funding was introduced as an option, I was the designer that somebody bought a share in. Since then, I’ve become the most invested in designer on the site.”

She added: “The financial constraints of a new business can be daunting, especially if it means you can’t let your creativity flow because there’s not enough money to do what you want to do. I love the idea of people believing in you, understanding where you’re coming from and wanting to invest; it’s fantastic. It’s also a lot simpler than the process of writing proposals, pitching for investment and having to endure endless meetings. Lots of people are scared to do what they really want, but I say just go for it! Almost 250 people have now invested in me online – and I’m so happy they have!”

Crowd-funding addresses one of the toughest challenges faced by emerging designers today: finance. Thankfully, the genius that is the back-a-designer scheme on the Catwalk Genius website enables the public - and not the fashion media - to decide democratically about the kind of fashion that gets made.

Photos: Catwalk Genius