ThreadMe: Destination Oasis in a Crowded Market

Thanks to a jam-packed trade show schedule, it can be overwhelming for every sector in the apparel industry to keep up. ThreadMe (www.threadme.com) hopes to become a central online destination place for designers, retailers, trade show organizers, sales reps, buyers and showrooms to research brands and products and to connect with others in the industry.

ThreadMe serves as a business-to-business online network and connects retailers to lookbooks and linesheets while helping designers get their collections in front of buyers through guides called “ThreadMe’s LookBooks.” These are distributed to retailers prior to each buying season and major trade show.

ThreadMe was launched in March 2008 and currently has more than 600 brands represented on the site and more than 12,000 buyers subscribing to “ThreadMe’s LookBooks.”

“We want to be a trade show performance enhancer and to make buying and exhibiting at a trade show more productive,” said co-founder Eugene Kim. Kim is the former director of operations for the California Market Center in Los Angeles.

ThreadMe is partnering with trade shows and wholesale centers such as the CMC, Cooper Design Space, The New Mart and Designers and Agents to help promote showrooms and exhibitors and to create an interactive space for trade shows to communicate with designers and buyers.

“We want buyers to be able to walk into a trade show and have a clear buying plan of lines that they need to see. There are too many talented designers and amazing products that get passed up because buyers just don’t have the time to see everything,” Kim said. “ThreadMe buyers can look through new products anytime, anywhere.”

A saturated trade show industry can spread buyers thin, according to Kim. ThreadMe can mitigate that and support and promote trade show business to get things done efficiently.

Each ThreadMe member profile features enhancements such as photos, video, calendars, portfolios, music and blogging capabilities. Members can contact one another and request a meeting or a collection viewing.

ThreadMe plans to build its online presence further through search engines and marketing collateral. “We want to position ourselves as a site that if you’re in the industry, you can find what you’re looking for on ThreadMe,” Kim said.

ThreadMe is a free service to the trade and can be accessed through an invitation request. For more information, visit www.threadme.com.