New power in the fashion industry

The fashion industry downturn, many traditional fashion brands have to close stores to survive, but recently many Internet fashion brands have announced financing plans to expand development. Not only that, but online lingerie brand Adore Me has vowed to challenge lingerie giant Victoria's Secret. So which Internet fashion brands are on the rise? And who are they to challenge traditional fashion brands?

These Internet fashion brands have been refundedOn October 14, Outdoor Voices, an Internet fashion sports brand, announced the completion of A $7 million series A funding round, and General Catalyst, the lead investor in the previous round, led the funding round again. So far, Outdoor Voices has raised $9.5 million.Outdoor Voices was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in New York City. In the red sea of sportswear startups, Outdoor Voices has taken a different approach, focusing on "light fitness" rather than professional sports, and its main customer group is targeted at "leisure sports enthusiasts" - people who are not fitness enthusiasts and usually prefer to go for a walk rather than having to go to the gym to work on equipment. Currently, the company only has an online store, a fan base and social media accounts, as well as a physical store in Austin, Texas. The funds raised in this round will be used to add more stores and increase product supply.

On October 19, ROOY, a Us-Based shoe design incubation platform, announced the completion of a $3.4 million seed round. The round was led by Formation 8, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, with Korea Investment Partners, a South Korean private equity firm. The funds raised will help ROOY expand its online presence, increase global market share and continue to increase production capacity.

Founded in 2014 by Ryan Kang, the second generation of shoes, ROOY is headquartered in San Francisco with a research and development center in Busan, South Korea. Emerging brands and designers use this creative platform to show their creative works to Internet users (in this case, shoe enthusiasts), who then decide which products to put on the market. Consumers who pre-order goods online can enjoy discounted prices before the product launches. This approach to consumer reviews has redefined the footwear design market: votes and feedback from platform members have reduced the product development cycle from 18 months to six months.

The ROOY platform not only allows designers to profit, but also early adopters to enjoy pre-sale discounts, which further expands the ranks of members of the online community. Community members share products through social interaction, which not only increases product sales, but also gives designers free marketing publicityOn Oct. 21, SAN Francisco-based Internet fashion company Betabrand announced a $15 million funding round from Morgan Stanley and Foundry Group. So far, the startup has raised $29 million.

Betabrand launches crowdsourced and crowdfunded new products every day and is poised to become a fast growing fashion brand in the world. In the traditional fashion industry, designers have to wait 12 to 16 months to show their work to consumers, but Betabrand designers engage with consumers from the beginning. By centralizing production and distribution, Betabrand offers designers the opportunity to build a fan network community. In this way, consumers can order directly from the designer himself, rather than the brand. Currently, Betabrand has more than 300 products for sale. The company will use the financing to increase investment in sample and designer collaboration series products, and achieve double growth in the number of products.

Online lingerie brand Adore Me, which received funding as early as 2013, recently announced that it wants to challenge the lingerie industry giant Victoria's Secret. Adore Me is an Internet lingerie brand founded by French handsome man Morgan Hermand-Maiche, which is positioned as fast fashion, but all underwear is only sold online. The brand employs designers who are proficient in the craft of underwear making, makes slight changes to the basic template to produce different styles, and launches a collection of 30 to 40 pieces every month.

In an interview with Business Insider earlier this summer, Sharon Klapka, the company's director of commercial and brand development, said she expects strong growth to continue in 2015. In fact, Adore Me is outperforming Italian luxury lingerie maker La Perla. Klapka is defiant: "Our goal is to surpass Victoria's Secret. "Their designs are slow and expensive, and it's time for us to revolutionize the lingerie market." Over the past three years, Adore Me's sales have grown from $1.1 million in 2012 to $16.2 million in 2014. Although it's a far cry from Victoria's Secret's annual sales of $7.2 billion, the 14-fold increase in two years is not to be underestimated. In addition, Adore Me was ranked 14th out of 5,000 Companies to Watch by Inc. Magazine and second among retail companies.

Internet fashion brands are on the rise

New customers at Adore Me can enjoy a two-piece set for $20, up from $39.95 for the rest of their lives

Compared with traditional fashion brands, these Internet fashion brands are characterized by the Internet platform position, from marketing to sales, none of which is completed in the Internet brand. Traditional fashion brands are based on physical sales, and online is only a channel, while Internet fashion brands are completely the opposite, based on online platforms, and physical stores as tools for consumers to experience. This approach is not only in line with the current trend of e-commerce in the fashion industry, but also more able to grasp the psychology and habits of current consumers. As we all know, fashion is a rapidly changing industry, only faster speed can catch consumers. In addition to speed, consumers are increasingly pursuing quality. Unlike in the past, a large number of middle-class people who influence the fashion industry are no longer simply pursuing price or quality, they are looking for good and cheap fashion products. And the Internet fashion brands that happen to produce such products are at a good time.

However, in the era of information flooding, if a new brand wants to gain attention and leave a deep impression on users, it must play a clear flag to highlight its unique personality and values. These rising Internet fashion brands also have this characteristic. For example, ROOY, which makes shoes, and Betabrand, which makes clothes, both offer programs for consumers to communicate directly with designers. This feature is attractive to consumers who are not loyal to traditional fashion brands and pursue individuality.