19
W27
SEPTEMBER 2012
Creating a Material Wrld by Caroline Nelson
From left, Jie Zheng and Rie Yano. Photography by Kevin Buitrago
Image courtesy of Material Wrld
Behind a small black door inscribed with the words, “WeWork,” hides an innovation hub with pinball machines in the waiting areas and skateboards mounted on the walls. Between the many glass cubicles and conference rooms, Rie Yano and Jie Zheng, friends and Harvard Business School graduates, are building the next fashion marketplace, one that encourages community and efficient design, kind of like their office.
creating the eBay for fashion,” Yano said. “Jie and I just knew from working in fashion and just being in New York that most of the people who are fashion enthusiasts are not going to these marketplaces on a day-to-day basis. Their current activity is actually on Instagram, it’s on Pinterest, it’s on Tumblr, it’s on their own blog, it’s on Twitter. They’re going to these discovered content sites to really showcase their style.”
Material Wrld, an online fashion destination that launched Thursday, August 30th, is part social network, part off-price outlet. Users can follow their favorite fashion icons and shop their closets, while fashion influentials like the Synder sisters of Dannijo and FIT’s own Nicole Loher can “humble brag” about their favorite pieces and sell former favorites. Though this may seem similar to shopping for vintage fashion on eBay or through the supplemental pages of fashion blogs, Material Wrld co-founder, Yano insists that it’s not.
Showcasing personal style on the site is easy with Material Wrld’s closet pages that feature personal header images, profile information and a clean design; elements bloggers and social media addicts are accustomed to. Approved sellers can list favorite items for sale through a one-step process and purchase information is saved in case users want to resell an item they bought on the site. If an item sells, Material Wrld takes only 15% of the profit, a far smaller margin than that of consignment shops, and sends sellers a premade shipping label for them to print at home. The site even provides packaging materials for an extra fee. All these features were added so users can save time and better connect with their audience.
As someone who has tried everything from eBay to consignment to resell her designer purchases, Yano, a native of Japan, has had many less than stellar experiences with fashion resale. Tired of getting next to nothing for high end merchandise at Beacon’s Closet and too embarrassed to continue selling, even anonymously, on eBay’s cluttered interface, Yano and her co-founder decided to create their own platform in August of last year. “The fashion resale market is kind of a hot space right now in the US and there are a few emerging competitors that just kind of popped up over the past year and most of them are really focused on
It’s the sense of community and discovery that really sets Material Wrld apart, however. Material Wrld closets are screened and approved by the founders before going live, and at this point, users can only log in though their Facebook or Twitter accounts. All of this is designed to attract younger, more social users and to allow the influentials to tap into their existing networks and grow their following even more. “For us the focus is that we’re going to be curated and very exclusive, so unlike other marketplaces that are just like, bang! Open to anyone,
a boutique can be on it, a reseller can be on it, a vintage shop can be on it, for us it’s all about the closets of individuals,” explained Yano. Even though not everyone can sell on the site, Material Wrld provides a fun and interactive user experience for all. Prior to the official launch, the site hosted an Instagram contest for two weeks, asking users to upload their favorite pieces. “The idea came out of our desire to really send out a message that we’re not just about being a marketplace for used goods. We’re a place where you’re going to be showcasing your awesome style,” Yano said. Material Wrld used the contest as a form of social media marketing and Yano hopes to further the site’s relationship with the photo app through Instagram integration in the future. “We just want to facilitate the process of making it easy for users, not to have to go in and take photos of everything because they want to sell, but really make it into a fun place,” said Yano, “the commerce part is like a second thought almost.”