Textile Fashion Startups, Entering the Second Round with New Product Development and Service Enhancement

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Recently, textile fashion startups have been garnering attention as they launch new products or enhance their services.

Until now, the textile fashion industry has been perceived as a challenging sector for investment and high growth compared to other industries, leading to neglect from investors. However, with the recent advent of the post-COVID era and the resulting optimism for consumer activity, textile fashion startups are actively expanding their operations.

Well-known companies such as StyleShare, Sinsang Market, Zigzag, Trenbe, and Balan have expanded their business footprint with investment funding, while others like SeriesZero, WeAther, IFGR Allen, EpicTiger, and JG Edition are enhancing their existing operations or venturing into new platform development and market penetration.

Looking closely at these companies' business models, they are challenging the traditional offline textile fashion industry by developing new platforms using cutting-edge technologies like the metaverse and big data.

Especially, they are focusing on alleviating the inconveniences of offline experiences by integrating IT technology with online bases.

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SeriesZero ... Targeting the Domestic Market with Successful Overseas Funding

IFG Allen ... Revamping Services with 'FashionPool'

Wearable headwear specialist SeriesZero (CEO O Taekyeong) is set to start funding on Wadiz, the largest crowdfunding company in Korea, on the 9th, using its success in overseas funding as a springboard.

The funding item is SeriesZero's developed LED hair care hat 'ZeroT'. 'ZeroT' has already secured approximately 200 million won in crowdfunding in the USA and Japan and has been invited to the '2021 S/S Seoul Fashion Week Smart Wearable' event, making it well-known in the wearable industry. However, it has been primarily sold through overseas funding, and this Wadiz listing marks its official domestic sale for the first time.

'ZeroT' consists of an outer cap shaped like a hat, an LED inner cap for hair care, a charging cable, and a hair tonic that works well in conjunction. The outer cap, which forms the exterior, prevents the LED light generated for hair care from being exposed outside, making it appear like a regular hat when worn during outdoor activities.

Especially, the LED inner cap for hair care emits blue light that destroys porphyrins on the scalp surface, reducing acne and dandruff, and red light that stimulates the mitochondria inside scalp cells, increasing blood flow to ensure more nutrients reach the hair follicles. Therefore, regular use of 'ZeroT' will create an environment conducive to hair growth both inside and outside the scalp.

The hair tonic provided alongside contains black bean extract and panthenol, menthol, salicylic acid which are certified by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for their hair loss treatment functionality. It also contains allantoin, which is good for cooling the scalp, calming the skin, and moisturizing. Although it can be used alone, using it with 'ZeroT' can maximize its performance.

Clinical trials conducted by the Korea Institute of Dermatological Sciences on the product's performance showed that using 'ZeroT' improved hair breakage by 19.14%. Surveys among clinical participants showed no skin abnormalities and high levels of convenience and satisfaction were reported.

For Wadiz funding, notification applications for 'ZeroT' Early Bird have been opened, and funding sales will proceed for about 3 weeks from 2 PM on the 9th of this month, with the products expected to be received by December.

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IFG Allen (CEO Oh Jiyoung) recently relaunched the Dongdaemun raw material platform 'FashionPool'.

After launching under the initial name 'DDM-ON', the company rebranded to 'FashionPool' to attract various fabric companies.

'FashionPool' is a platform for online commerce and contactless business for raw material companies in the Dongdaemun Comprehensive Market. While initially based on the Dongdaemun Comprehensive Market model, after the relaunch, the goal is to expand its scope nationwide and even to the Southeast Asian market.

Selected as a government support project by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Transport Research Institute in September last year, the company began internal field tests in April and has been actively recruiting partner companies and conducting real sales tests with partners like Daehan Fabric since June.

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CEO Oh Jiyoung stated, "We aim to attract more than 350 raw material companies. We plan to organize various categories including fabrics, linings, buttons, metals, zippers, and even factories/subcontracting for information provision."

With the goal of further growth, additional features such as easy management of trade partners based on purchase history data and sharing work orders through 'FashionPool' without any issues are planned to be added.

Moye ... Launching 'MoyeFeed' for Fashion News for Fashionistas

WeAther ... Establishing Seongbuk-dong Osl Factory (Smart Factory)

EpicTiger ... Challenging the Fashion Metaverse Market

The fashion pre-order platform Moye (CEO Song Hayoon) recently launched 'MoyeFeed', a collection of fashion news for fashion people. 'MoyeFeed' includes news from not only famous international brands but also various domestic fashion brands, incorporating community elements like 'likes' and sharing.

'Moye', a fashion pre-order platform, is a service that solves the issue of production costs due to minimum production quantities faced by fashion brands through donation-based crowdfunding. Once the pre-order is successful and payment is completed, item production begins, and after production, cancellations, exchanges, or refunds are difficult.

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'Moye', short for 'everyone is an artist', aims to lower the barriers to entry in fashion creation.If there's capability in design, the plan is to create an ecosystem that allows for a one-stop process from prototype production to mass production.

The funding platform Moye (CEO Song Hayoon), which allows for product creation and production through crowdfunding, is garnering attention. It's a unique fashion funding platform born from Hanyang University's Startup Dome. Its operation is unique in that it's based on crowdfunding, allowing users who participate in funding to be involved in the entire process from product planning to production and mass production.

CEO Song Hayoon of Moye said, "Through the 'MoyeFeed' service, we have made it possible to access the latest information from brands," and "especially, Moye is creating a virtuous cycle structure that allows designers and creators to participate in funding without burden by reducing initial costs."

WeAther (CEO Jo Hyung-il), operating the sewing platform 'Osle', is constructing a smart factory in Seongbuk-dong in November.

'Osle' is a job connection platform that provides direct assistance to those looking for garment production factories. Since its trial operation in December last year, Osle has grown into the leading clothing production brokerage platform in Korea, used by about 1,800 designer company members and 800 factory members in just six months.

Particularly, WeAther is building a smart factory capable of small quantity and quick delivery based on investment attraction in the first half of the year.

CEO Jo Hyung-il said, "With overseas production in Vietnam and others becoming difficult due to COVID-19, domestic fashion companies also judged that a small quantity quick delivery system is necessary, so we are constructing a smart factory in Seongbuk-dong," and "we plan to officially open in November and start consultations targeting domestic fashion companies."

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Fashnology startup EpicTiger (CEO Choi Harim) has opened the beta service of 'MOLTING', a fashion-based SNS.

'MOLTING' is a fashion SNS platform that provides a virtual fitting room where users can style with actual fashion brands through their own virtual avatar and share a variety of unique styling feeds.

Especially, 'MOLTING' users can try on various items at once with layering, style in different ways with the multi-view function similar to offline experiences, and choose backgrounds that match their styling to post their own content. A distinctive feature of the 'MOLTING' feed where content is posted is that it connects users directly to the official website of the styled brand items with just one tap, providing a unique advantage to brands.

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Also, in November, a 'Copycat' feature that allows users to easily try on outfits worn by their favorite celebrities or influencers, as well as feed saving and SNS sharing functionalities, will be opened, expected to create a space for users to exchange fashion inspiration with followers.

'MOLTING' is not only collaborating with Duvetica but also sequentially servicing with more than 50 brands with which it has established official partnerships, planning to expand its brand layers by the end of the year. A service for English-speaking regions is also planned after the official launch in December 2021.

Director Song Subin of EpicTiger said, "'MOLTING' can be utilized as a marketing tool for fashion brands, and direct purchases by consumers are possible through the shopping mall integration feature," and "it provides consumers with a new experience beyond the conventional online shopping purchase method."

Meanwhile, EpicTiger is a fashion SNS platform startup established in January 2021. It is a startup composed of a CEO from the Art Center in the US, a fashion creator and influencer, a user experience expert, and a former Samsung Electronics UX AR solution development specialist.