Us Trendy combines the design competition concept of sites like Threadless and CollarFree, and throws budding fashion designers and models into the mix. The site is simple in purpose and practice. Wannabe designers upload their creations to the site, users vote on the designs they like, and Us Trendy produces and sells the most popular designs in their online store. The same formula works for models too; models upload their best shots, users vote on each photo, and the highest rated models are given the keys to the catwalk for Us Trendy fashion shows.
This type of site appears to be an excellent platform for people trying to break in to the highly competitive Fashion industry. Founder Sam Sisakhti's says his motivation to create the site came from personal experiences. "I originally felt the need to create UsTrendy when I saw the struggles that friends of mine – aspiring fashion designers – went through to find viable career opportunities in fashion industry, this coupled with the lack of viable outlets for fashion enthusiasts to express their voice in deciding the trends and clothing produced each season."
Sisakhti's vision is great, and we hope Us Trendy can deliver on their promise, but I have to wonder how this idea will pan out. With voting sites, there's always the possibility that people will game the system. Us Trendy could see designs with high vote counts but little to no mass appeal go into production, with the return on their community investment being more dreadful than wearing white after Labor Day. Plus, consumers already have a plethora of online options for finding fashion trends, what's going to be the driving factor to get them to buy from Us Trendy?
Is Us Trendy a fashion do or don't? Tell us what you think in the comments.