Lam will unveil a ready-to-wear collection of original designs at a presentation during New York Fashion Week in February 2011.
Shoppers will then be asked to vote for their favorites on eBay.com, with the collective consumer response determining which pieces are produced for the collection.
The final collection will be available for purchase for Spring/Summer 2011 at “accessible” fixed price points on eBay.
This is an incredibly exciting announcement, and follows a trend we saw start last season, where shoppers were able to view collections in real time and immediately place orders (most notably done by Burberry).
This immediate dialogue is an incredibly helpful tool for designers to see which pieces are the most successful, and which may have been best left on the cutting room floor.
Jan-Hendrik Schlottmann, chief executive officer of Derek Lam Intl. LLC. said it best when he remarked that “the convergence of fashion and technology is essential to the future of the industry.”
No details have been released yet as to how many pieces will be available in the collection, or whether the line will include accessories. The collection’s “accessible” price points are relatively vague, but it is likely that pricing will be on par with Topshop.
While Lam is following in the footsteps of Norma Kamali and Narciso Rodriguez, both of whom have previously designed collections exclusively for eBay, he is the first designer to incorporate consumer response. The industry is changing its approach to business and design, and doing so in a manner that is more favorable to the consumer. This is truly an exciting time for the fashion world.
