Adopt-a-designer program for crowdfunded fashion

More crowdfunding! Just recently, Irish fashion portal Catwalk Genius joined the crowdfunded fashion fray with its new Adopt a Designer program. Catwalk Genius features fashion and accessories from independent designers. Through Adopt a Designer, supporters of a participating designer can buy shares (or “elements,” as it calls them) in their work for EUR 14—plus a EUR 1 processing fee—in the hope of sharing in future profits. Once 5,000 such elements have been sold, the designer is given the resulting EUR 70,000 to create a new collection within 6 months. In the meantime, supporters receive a limited edition piece created exclusively for them by the designer. When the new collection launches, all profits from its sale are split equally among the designer, the supporters and Catwalk Genius. If the collection sells out, a tidy profit goes to the designer’s supporters, who can also sign up for Catwalk Genius’s affiliate program and earn 10 percent of the profits from sales through ads on their personal web pages. By the Adopt a Designer program’s mid-April launch, 50 designers had already signed up. Crowdfunding has now been spotted taking hold in the worlds of bands, software, education and sports, among many others. Any doubters left out there? Time to start putting the power of the supportive crowds to work for your growing brand!