Whether it’s for retailing woes, creative droughts, or financial support, crowdsourcing is a powerful tool in the fashion industry. A study from the Journal of Retailing found crowdsourcing to be a successful forecasting device for fashion retail buying as long as crowds were a focused size and diverse in shopping habits and income.
Even beyond the confines of that study, there’s no shortage of success stories around the impact of connecting with a crowd. The advent of the internet has also made crowdsourcing more accessible than ever. The New York Times reports how “millions of people, connected by the Internet, are contributing ideas and information to projects big and small.” If you’re wondering where to start getting a crowd behind your new fashion project, get some inspiration from these triumphant campaigns.
1. Catalyst Activewear
Fashion has long had a problem with waste, producing about 92 million tonnes of textiles that end up in landfills. Catalyst Activewear sought to separate itself from this fate by launching the Open Studio platform. Here, they posted design variations on different garments they planned to release. Users could then ‘swipe’ on which designs they wanted to launch with the collection.
On a grand scale, this has excellent overarching potential for the role of crowdsourcing in making fashion more sustainable. Through this process, smaller brands can minimize costs and losses since you learn which products people will be more likely to buy and build rapport with your target audience.
2. Ray-Ban Meta
Ray-Ban Meta, born of an already innovative collaboration between two industry giants, takes an exciting approach to crowdsourcing and marketing. To promote its functionality and further hone which features need improvement, the brand has consistently worked with artists from different fields to live-test the product.
Often when you see Ray-Ban Meta posts, it’s a POV video using an actual pair to produce whatever the content creator’s niche fits, as in the case of tennis star Coco Gauff’s downtime campaign. It’s a great way to showcase the glasses’ biggest draws, particularly the Meta AI technology, Instagram and Facebook direct live streaming capability, ultrawide HD lens, and crisp audio capture system. Gauff uses the smart glasses to capture and make the most of her downtime with her family, showcasing how they help her take her mind off tennis and enjoy these memorable moments.
These software updates are just a fraction of the continued quality-of-life improvements born from the live feedback they are getting from their audience. If you look at traditional Ray-Ban glasses on Glasses.com like the Wayfarer Optics, you’ll see how the smart Meta versions upgrade these, such as by discreetly embedding a 12MP camera into the frame. Additionally, official partner websites carry different frame styles while still featuring the new five-mic array for more immersive videos. This is the kind of improvement fashion brands can achieve when tapping into
their demographics and what they want to see from any product.
3. EverybodyWorld
Image source: @everybody.world on Instagram
It’s not just about minimizing costs all the time. In the hectic world of fashion, finding an inspired design can do wonders to wrestle the brand out of a creative rut. EverybodyWorld’s launch campaign was all about sustainability and crowdsourcing, reaching out to famed artists and community members to collaborate. The call to action was simple: social media let creatives know there was a need for unisex shoe designs. The winning designer received 10% of the profit on every pair.
This collaboration garnered positive attention for the brand and resulted in the stylish Untitled Shoe by Essence and Jihaari. Creating goodwill and open collaboration is a great way to kickstart your fashion project, especially if you make good on your working deals.
4. Ampere
One recent example of crowdsourcing success is Ampere’s Dusk Rx smart sunglasses, which achieved its goals in funding. While we’re used to seeing different tints, clip-on lenses, and other filters that improve eyewear protection, Dusk Rx is unique as the world’s first light and touch-responsive glasses with instant electronic tint control. The shades automatically adapt to changing light conditions in 0.1 seconds, 1800 times faster than traditional photochromic lenses. The sunglasses also have an ambient light sensor and patented electronic tint control so that wearers can adjust the lenses’ tint for visibility and comfort in any environment.
The Dusk RX sunglasses were selected as the CES 2024 Innovation Award Honoree. In September 2023, Dusk Rx listed pre-orders on Kickstarter, with the first shipments slated for a March 2024 release. The product reached 1000% of its funding goal in the first 48 hours, seeing a massive demand for cutting-edge lenses in three classy frame styles. We can learn from Ampere here that if you have a clear vision of your fashion project, lay it out, make your prototypes, and put it up on a crowdfunding platform for people to support. As long as you can stay transparent and hit your targets, this can be your path to making your collection a reality.
For more inspiring stories and tips on crowdsourcing, check out the rest of our articles here at Crowdsourcing Week.
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