#SMW13 Recap: The Democratization of Fashion: Are Consumers Haute Or Not?
by Kate StudwellMonday, February 25th, 2013
Last week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Eugenia Chien of Polyvore, Stefan Loble of bluffworks.co, and Carrie Hammer of CarrieHammer.com about a shift we’re seeing in today’s fashion industry. Historically, the industry has had a top-down approach to fashion; trends were decided months before designs were produced or shared on the runway. Rather than asking fashionistas what they liked, brands told them what was “haute” and dictated where fashion was going.
Now, platforms like Kickstarter, Polyvore, Pinterest, Etsy, Storenvy (and the list goes on) allow consumers to put the power back in the hands of the people. Rather than just following trends, consumers are revolutionizing the industry. They can’t find what they want from the big brands, so tastemakers are creating what they (and their friends) want.
Check out this great recap of our convo below!