Fashion marketplace Garmentory has launched an app to give its customers a new way to shop.
The managed marketplace is aimed at helping consumers discover indie boutiques and emerging designers. Indie brands are presented alongside bigger names like Opening Ceremony and Rachel Comey. The app also allows the designers and boutiques to create flash sales. Another feature is the availability of exclusive deals only through the app.
While competitors like Shoptiques have also built a platform to showcase boutiques around the world, Garmentory also manages all customer service, shipping and logistics for the indie brands and emerging designers. The business model is designed to help small businesses reach a wider audience. The site incorporates specialized features for both customers and vendors. On the customer side, personalized feeds are available for merchandise based on the individual’s past purchases. On the vendor side, they get to see what items are resonating with buyers, data they can use to make decisions on future buys.
So far, the management platform works with more than 800 designers and boutiques for the app. In all, Garmentory works with over 500 boutiques and 3,000 emerging and contemporary designers, and adds new products to the site daily. The vendor participants can also create their own video content that consumers can shop from.
Garmentory operates an e-commerce site, its new app and is now coordinating a number of trade shows for its vendors, according to a spokeswoman. In addition to fashion options for women, men and kids, the site also has a lifestyle section for the kitchen, home, decor and soft textiles.
The spokeswoman said the company has completed several fundraising rounds. According to Crunchbase, Garmentory started operations in April 2014, and was co-founded by Adele Tetangco and Sunil Gowda. Based in Seattle, Wash., the company has completed about four funding rounds and raised in the aggregate $3.4 million.