Consumption community: What and how to buy on Not Just a Label
WONDERZINE DEADS, how the famous online stores are arranged: what to buy and what to look for when delivering. This time we are exploring the project Not Just a Label.
Despite the fact that Instagram and Facebook today allow designers to declare themselves and find a buyer faster than 10 years ago, the creators of their own brands have a hard time. Store buyers wait several seasons before making their first order (at this point, the brand must prove its ability to generate consumer demand), so that all this time, designers are investing in their own brands almost idle. However, when the long-awaited purchase is made, life does not become easier - you need to cope with the volume of orders (that is, to invest more money in the purchase of fabric, accessories and wages to seamstresses) and wait until things are sold. In addition, stores always inflate the price of designer items by 2.5–4 times, and while the store is earning, the designer only beats off the cost of production, plus the expenses incurred for advertising, PR, fashion shows, shooting books and other expenses. And young brands rarely can afford to open their own store. The way out is sales through the Internet and platforms that help young designers to move in the network.
One of the first such platforms, Not Just a Label, was created in London by Stephen Siegel in 2008, having left his previous job in banking and finance. Today, NJAL represents more than 14,000 designers in 100 countries, acting as an intermediary between young brands and buyers, earning only 30 percent from intermediary activities, which NJAL adds to the value of things. Siegel did not have any third-party investments to launch the project, however in two years the project went to zero.
This year, Matteo Marzotto joined the platform, heir to the Italian dynasty of Marzotto, who revived Valentino’s house in the early 2000s and then took on the revival of the Vionnet house. Matteo sees potential in a global platform and has found points of intersection with the largest Italian jewelry fair, VicenzaOro. On the one hand, Matteo allowed hundreds of young designers to enter the offline space of the exhibition, and on the other hand, the site presents the oldest Italian craft houses that work with leather, stones, textiles for their global advancement.
For NJAL, fashion industry professionals make their collections of designer items. For example, the main buyer of the Paris store Maria Luisa, Robin Shuli and Diane Pernet, who called Siegel’s project a serious breakthrough. Pernet says that before the advent of NJAL, fashion was in the hands of large corporations, and now it immediately falls into the hands of consumers, which is a great achievement.
The main task of NJAL is not only to help designers bypass intermediaries and outdated retail systems that impede the success of young brands, but also to increase the profits of young brands. In addition to online sales, we help with marketing and PR, we shoot, we write about new names, also acting as an intermediary between designers and the press. We are well aware that pulling a brand alone is hard for a young designer. In fact, we created a virtual show room, but with the difference that the designer does not pay for participation in order to exhibit. We provide free digital space that helps the development of brands.
The shop
The attractiveness of NJAL's online shop is that you can find limited items with unique designs created by young brands from around the world, in one place and at prices, as they say, from the manufacturer. NJAL does not have a warehouse - designers sell items directly from their studios, and the store helps with delivery and payment procedures. In fact, this is exactly what offline stores cannot afford, and because of this, young designers sell things at an exorbitant price. There are sections with women's, men's clothing, unisex-things, jewelry, shoes, accessories, as well as separately - with new arrivals. You can still filter things by price and designers. Delivery is carried out worldwide, including Russia. Here are just a few examples of what you can buy at NJAL: Yesimfrench Korean brand vinyl bags that look like product bags; things of sports and architectural cut CRES. E DIM., White skirts and tops with transparent inserts by Hungarian designer Anna Daubner, minimalist bags and backpacks from the Spaniards Väska.
Our Designers
This section contains a list of NJAL participating designers from around the world: brand descriptions, designer biographies, lookbooks and contacts. You can search for designers either by category (women's clothing, men's, shoes, jewelry), or by country. Ukrainian designers Anna October, Liliya Litkovskaya, Dina Linnik, Masha Reva, Lake, Anton Belinsky, Ksenia Schneider and others closely cooperate with the project. Among Russian designers: osome2some, I AM, Inshade, Turbo_Yulia, Tegin, Lyudmila Norsoyan, or Natalia Sushchenko - a Russian designer who lives in Barcelona, and a lot of completely new names.
Editorial
The section contains articles about new brands, shooting, interviews with designers and industry professionals, articles about fashion from different parts of the world from Iceland to Ireland, and fashion video brands. In addition, there are regularly published collections of photos of stars in the things of young designers (there is Lady Gaga in Alisa Kuzembaeva or Rihanna in Melitta Baumeister), as well as a list of various competitions for young professionals who can afford to receive a grant and declare themselves from the Berlin fashion Film Festival before the Mango Fashion Awards.
News
In addition to the news feed, you can find in the section a calendar of upcoming fashion events in the world: exhibitions, presentations of collections, as well as new lookbooks of stamps. The site is now announcing the exhibition "Charles James: Beyond Fashion" in New York, "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" in London, and Barcelona Fashion Week 080 Barcelona Fashion SS15.
Community
In this section, designers can register, become members of the NJAL community and get the opportunity to present their things on the platform. The section contains contacts of designers, design universities, a list of internships and open vacancies in the fashion industry.
PHOTO: Flashin 'S / S 2015 Lookbook