Fashionista

How to Make It in Fashion: June 21, Dream Hotel Downtown, New York

Wednesday February 1st, 2012

Fashion Tech Boom: Why It’s Happening and How Startups Get Funded
The Business

Fashion Tech Boom: Why It’s Happening and How Startups Get Funded

Last year saw a major influx of new fashion-focused tech startups. With the early success of pioneers like Gilt Groupe and Ideeli, an industry that has typically been slow to embrace new technology has spawned a burgeoning community of game-changing ecommerce sites, mobile apps and social networking and discovery platforms. And with no shortage of new ideas or interest from financial backers, this influx shows no signs of slowing down in 2012–and we think that’s very exciting.

With new start-ups popping up almost daily, we set out to discover which ones are doing it right, how they’re all being funded, and what 2012 holds for the fashion tech biz.

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Published at 6:41 PM

Wednesday August 24th, 2011

Flash Sales Site Ideeli Ranked #1 Fastest-Growing Company of 2011
e-commerce

Flash Sales Site Ideeli Ranked #1 Fastest-Growing Company of 2011

Inc. magazine just released their annual Inc. 500, a list of the country’s 500 fastest-growing private businesses. Proving that members-only flash sales business model are still sound, online retailer Ideeli scored the number one spot on the list with a three-year sales growth of 40,882% and revenue of $77.7 million.

The New York-based company launched in 2007 and specializes in limited-time sales with a variety of designers and was one of the first to adopt this type of business model in the U.S., shortly after Gilt Groupe. And we knew Ideeli was a major player in the online flash sale site game. These ecommerce sites were one of the only retail platforms to benefit from the recession–brands had excess inventory they needed to move and shoppers wanted deals. Paul Hurley, the founder of Ideeli, told Inc., “The day after Lehman failed, which was a spectacular day for us, you could fire a gun in Saks and not hit anybody.”

Still, we didn’t know it was this big. Currently, ideeli boasts over 4.5 million members and 1,000 brand partners. Here are 10 more interesting facts about this year’s fastest-growing company that you may not have known from Inc.‘s profile:

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Published at 6:21 PM

Tuesday February 8th, 2011

Ideeli Ups Fashion Profile By Sponsoring Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Hosting 8 Days Worth of New York Designer Deals

Ideeli Ups Fashion Profile By Sponsoring Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Hosting 8 Days Worth of New York Designer Deals

Ideeli launched back in 2007, and this is the second season the flash sales site is officially sponsoring Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Along with a slew of guest contributors adding fashion-centric editorial content to the e-commerce platform, Ideeli will also host a “Design Dreams” giveaway on February 12. The package includes everything an aspiring designer needs to sew his or her first piece: sewing machine, sketch pads, sewing class, and more.

But clearly it’s the deals we’re most excited about. In honor of the week, Ideeli is hosting eight sales featuring designers showing in the tents. (These aren’t looks straight off the runway, but classics from previous collections.) Here’s the schedule:

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Published at 1:32 PM

Friday July 9th, 2010

ideeli’s Brand Director Explains What It’s Like to Be One of the First ‘Fashion People’ To Embrace the Internet
Fashion Careers

ideeli’s Brand Director Explains What It’s Like to Be One of the First ‘Fashion People’ To Embrace the Internet

Tamara Rosenthal, executive director of brand marketing at New York-based flash sales site ideeli, has worked everywhere from Lacoste to Ferragamo in marketing to Vogue in advertising to…A Small World. That’s right–the branding veteran’s most recent position was figuring out a branding strategy for the niche social networking site.

Now, she’s doing the same at ideeli, bringing years of retail and publishing experience along for the ride.

We recently sat down with Rosenthal to discuss ideeli’s present, its future, and why she’s happy she got into online marketing earlier than most.

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Published at 12:00 PM

Monday March 29th, 2010

HauteLook’s Carlota Espinosa Talks Shop
Shopping

HauteLook’s Carlota Espinosa Talks Shop

If you’re reading Fashionista, you’ve probably visited one flash sale site or another over the last couple of years, whether it was ideeli, Gilt Groupe or HauteLook. But as the space becomes increasingly crowded, how will each retailer differentiate itself? We recently sat down with HauteLook‘s vice president of fashion, Carlota Espinosa, who explained where Read more →

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Published at 12:50 PM

Thursday January 14th, 2010

Thursday April 16th, 2009

Shopping

Things You Should Know

Pronto and Ideeli, two separate shopping sites, have joined forces to bring you that Alexander Wang bag. It’s the black Donna hobo that every single model carried this fashion week. It retails for $795 but you can register to win it here for free. If you need a pair of jeans to go with that Read more →

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Published at 12:57 PM