Upscale fashion designer Derek Lam unveiled Wednesday a new, 16-piece collection designed exclusively for eBay. The designs debuted simultaneously at Fashion Week headquarters in Lincoln Center and on ebay.com.
Consumers are invited to view and cast votes for their favorite pieces, made from a combination of poplins, denim and printed georgette in simple, easy-to-wear designs, at dereklam.ebay.com. The five dresses with the greatest number of votes will then be produced and made available in sizes 0 to 16 for purchase on ebay.com in May. Each will cost between $125 and $295 -- by no means cheap, but significantly more reasonable than the $1,000+ price tags attached to items in Lam's primary collection.
What's unusual is not that Lam is producing a one-off collection for eBay -- big-name designers like Vera Wang and Alber Elbaz of Lanvin have partnered with the likes of H&M and Target in similar initiatives in the past -- but that consumers are getting a say in what part of the collection makes it to market.
Since the birth of the ready-to-wear industry, fashion editors and department store buyers have determined what of a designer's collection gets produced -- not consumers. Now, thanks to a more social web culture and online tools for voting and purchasing, consumers are getting the opportunity to decide (collectively, at least) what items are manufactured, whilst merchandisers are able to more accurately estimate demand and adjust production accordingly.