For the ladies of GFY, need your opinion on shopping/fashion
 

I am starting up a venture that will make "custom made clothes at rack prices". A woman would order a measurement kit, it arrives via the mail, someone at home measures you with the easy to follow instructions (so easy, even a guy could do it), you enter your measurements into the website, you select a dress design that you like, you order the dress, and it arrives in the mail. Behind the scenes, my software resizes the dress pattern to your size, including your custom options (like length of hem, type of sleeves, etc).

I have been trying to raise capital to open up the factory (made in the USA), but its been a big challenge right now to raise capital (the people I have pitched like the terms and the idea, its just they got hit hard with stock market and real estate).

I have one potential investor, but the terms are pretty steep. I am looking to try a more creative approach. Looking for some feedback from the ladies. Guys who creeped into this thread, show your woman this to get her feedback and respond.

If a custom made dress from my company costs $145 (free shipping), and you order 1 dress for a special evaluation price of like $100, and it fits you perfectly, fabric is great, etc... and then you saw the offer that if you pre-paid $300 into your account, that you would get 45% off for life.

The next time you ordered a dress, the price would be 45% off and the final price is deducted from the $300 that you had in your account.

The dress line will increase and more and more styles will grow the catalog, so all of your dress needs would be filled for every occasion where you needed a new dress.

What this arrangement could do, is if 200+ women did this, then i would have starting capital to push forward the factory, and get increased sales.

This would be like having "charter" or "foundation" customers who helped the company grow from the beginning. Lots of additional benefits going forward. One example of a benefit is you could come up with a dress design that you would think looks good on you. We build the prototype to see how it looks, and if it works out, we name the dress after you and you get a free dress of your design.

Looking for feedback that assumes the following: you would order a dress at the special evaluation price of $100, if the dressed fitted/looked great, would you do the special pre-pay offer?


Fight the what to wear!

Very cleaver idea. I love it. What's the return policy ? Most women don't even know how to check their own bra size. So the measuring kit would need to be very simple.
People are scared to give money away I think, and it may be hard to get that trust from 200 different people. Would you have a contract for the people that did want to do the $300.00 to protect them ?

if it doesn't fit right when you receive it, you send it back, and we fix. if it still doesn't fit, 100% refund

absolutely. i have gone through 12 different versions of measurement methods, and think i have it down now, so that even a guy could do it and not mess it up :)


there would be legal type to protect them, yes, because they are pre-paying, so the money is theirs... it would probably be those that knew me, knew the people involved, friends, family, and word of mouth from all those connections who would "trust" enough the website to do such an offer.

this is why i decided the approach of the evaluation dress price, that if they love it, that should be proof that they would want to buy more, therefore giving them this special offer, allows them to purchase more dresses at a lower cost.


Fight the measure twice, cut once!

I would order and do the prepay special. Would be a great deal for me because the different drugs I have to take cause me to change sizes depending on what I'm on. I can be a 3 one month and 7 weeks later be a 12. Then fall down size by size the longer I'm off steriods. I have 3 dressers and jeans in every size from 3 to 12. So this would be a great deal for me.

If you ever got a chance to do custom dress shoes, I would jump at that too!

You can try some online lending sites for startup capital.

i have looked at those sites.. some are scams, some are schemes, some might be legit, but they are in backlog.

investors invest in the person driving the idea, and the idea coming second. best bet is to go to the friend/family route.. and when that comes to a dead-end, going to friends who don't have the money, but know people who do, that help to vouch/extend your credibility through them.

it goes along with the mathematical equation, a=b, b=c, therefore a=c.

a = the entrepreneur
b = the friend that knows a
c = person with money


Fight the (d) all of the above!

Very cool idea, but yes what is the return policy? I agree with what someone else said, most women are horrible with their own measurements. I'm in a wedding in Sept where my dress is being designed specifically for my own body type, the designer is trying to launch something similar to this, based in Chicago - but she charges about $600/dress.

I would definitely buy into this - I love the discount/promo ideas you have. And with women and clothes if a few women love it, it will spread quickly.

Hope to see you in Miami!

In regards to the pre-pay option...a spa/wellness clinic that I go to has a package where you pay $200 a year, and get a certain percentage off all services.

So I think your idea would definitely work, seeing as how they will already have one of your dresses.

If I loved the 1st dress I got, I would def pay the same amount for another dress, but I prob wouldn't do the prepay thing, esp if it's a brand new company. No offense babe just what I would do as a consumer :)

ps- so can I order a custom dress? :) Lets see some pics of these dresses!

yeah what Aaliyah said, what do the dresses look like? That will be the make or break it part when it comes to fashion. :)

the cuts and the fabric matter more than anything...