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14 Comments

Where to find fashion startup communities?

Hi Hackers!
I am building a database of small clothing manufacturers for people who want to start their own fashion label. I have found a couple of focused communities around this group - mainly small streetwear labels, and emerging sustainable ecommerce stores - but many of them do not allow for b2b marketing (which even though we solve a major need, I think we would qualify). Does anyone know of slack channels, newsletters (that are easy to contact the editor and potentially get featured), podcasts etc where I can reach this particular group of entrepreneur?

  1. 1

    Roses, you may want to follow Maker's Row on FB and see who's following them. They would likely be good targets since they are probably makers who need mfg sourcing help.

    Also, on YouTube search for "start apparel business" and you should find folks like John Santos and others, and they may be good leads for you.

    There's also an outfit called IndieSource in Los Angeles, so you may get some ideas about who to target by looking at them.

  2. 1

    Hey Roses - would also be really interested to chat as I currently work in the fashion space and am looking into ventures.

    In the meantime, would suggest looking at commonobjective.co who are doing some interesting work on the community and information for “cleaner” fashion brands

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      Hi @jamiedujardin - I'm sorry I sent you the wrong email address. If you are interested in talking reach out at - [email protected] Thanks!

    2. 1

      Hi @jamiedujardin, thanks for the link and would love to chat! Can you email me at [email protected]? If you are free we could set up a zoom chat.

  3. 1

    Hi Roses, I am building a sustainable and ethical marketplace and will be targeting a lot of content to small makers. Take a look at my mvp: April22.co. I'd love to have a chat with you/interview you about your database and post this on my blog (non-existent now, but launching this in February with first 10 stories). Let's set up the time if you are interested!

    Unsolicited advice: it is hard to sell your database (which is an awesome thing to exist) to companies who already have production set up for their brands. Maybe it would be more beneficial to target sustainable/ethical/local influencers or customers (stores) who buy from faire.com, e.g. people who are considering starting their own white labeled sustainable and ethical line in addition to what they sell now. Or companies in SF are now trying to buy their swag from local companies too (I know that Airbnb office does it).

    What are the "emerging sustainable ecommerce stores" that you mentioned btw? :)

    1. 1

      Hi @anyakern - awesome to meet you, and your site looks awesome! I think I would love to do a blog post for you guys, and we should definitely set up time to talk. Can you send me an email at [email protected]?

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        Hi there, the email I sent to you was not delivered. You can pick time on my calendar to kick of the conversation if you'd like: https://calendly.com/anya_kern/30min

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          Hi @anyakern - sent! My bad, I thought it was all set up. I will take another look.

  4. 1

    I keep a list of curated communities on Hive Index. I don't at the moment have the fashion topic populated, so I can't help you find communities directly.

    However, I can tell you a really simple way to find some, I use it all the time. Go to an existing community (like /r/fashion) and ask the folks there for other communities that they are a part of and appreciate. You're bound to get some new ideas that you haven't come across on your own.

    With all of that said, please make sure to respect the communities that you're planning on promoting your product in. Make sure you're contributing to these communities first, and giving more than you are taking.

    1. 2

      Hi @thefedoration - thank you for the tip! And great point, I absolutely want to be respectful of any community I join. I actually got the idea from seeing so many questions about this particular topic in one of the fashion communities I am already in (but we do have the no b2b marketing rule and I wanted to be considerate). Hive Index looks super cool :)

  5. 1

    Anyone who runs a community will rightfully make it hard or impossible to promote stuff, this is what kills communities.

    The reality is that you probably need to spend time in said places and build up a relationship with the members and the owners. And then figure out suitable conversations to have that don't break the promotion rule.

    Or you can join the communities ask then owner what the options are to communicate specific things to the whole group.

    I can't recommend any specific groups, it's totally not my niche, but I would personally do some searches on Facebook, Reddit and Google to see what you come up with.

    1. 1

      Hi @rosiesherry - great point! I think my question was around mentioning my project in conversations where it is appropriate. For example, I am already part of several fashion groups for myself and I actually got the idea because this topic comes up a lot. I think you're right - going straight to the moderators and asking what they think is the next best step.

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