Startup Idea #83:Topspinmedia for fashion

The decay of fashion as a blockbuster industry: Interesting article that shows how fashion is suffering through similar decay as media has already done. There has been an explosion in the number of new designers but the bottleneck in the form of a traditional distribution chain is trapping the value that can be unleashed.

What fashion needs is a Topspin equivalent. A way for independent designers to reach out and connect with their fans. Simple things like contact management, pricing tools are first steps. More advanced tools like social media, Digg-style of voting, or even Zazzle type of remixing create context for consumption. This not only acts as efficient attention filters for users but also allows designers to know the preferences of their fans and prevents duds. It is even possible to create new funding models through mechanisms pioneered by Kiva and/or Sellaband.

Ultimately, as micromedia and communities splinter the fashion industry into masses of niches, there is a need to recreate the value chain of fashion. Enabling this change will be extremely cool!

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