California Apparel News

As a former model who later became a buyer for a boutique and a sales rep for J Brand in the company’s early days, Kassondra Dyebo said she quickly fell in love with trade shows.

“I was fascinated by the trade show scene and how it all worked,” Dyebo said. “I wanted to go to Japan and Bread & Butter in Europe, and they couldn’t afford to send me anywhere and I couldn’t afford to go myself, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if everything was online.’”

Seven years ago, she started a small networking site to connect buyers with designers in Japan and Europe and charged a membership fee.

“It wasn’t a big huge business. I only had 300 clients,” she said. “It started to get real when my friend said, ‘Hey, you have a real business here. Let’s do transactions and charge them.’”

Since then, the idea evolved into a global online trade show, called Boutique Fashion Brokers (BFB), which was launched in February. The members-only site has 180 designers from around the world and more than 600 boutiques, and it provides a digital space where designers can sell their merchandise to buyers online without the expense of either party attending a trade show.

Designers can create their own virtual showroom and upload line sheets with all of their looks, while buyers can browse an online inventory that is navigable by categories and sub-categories—such as color, fabric, designer, size, apparel item or trade show—and then add pieces that they’re interested in to their multi-brand line sheet.

“When you’re starting out as a designer, your distribution is so low, so for us to be able to reach these young designers and help them grow is really rewarding,” Dyebo said.

The platform is private, so designers and buyers can only view each other but not their respective groups.

“The point is not to compete but just to make your boutique better,” said Lauren Taylor, a spokesperson for BFB.

Buyers can order samples from the designer before purchasing and even rate the designers’ merchandise.

“At the end of the day, you do have to feel and touch and try on the clothes, so that’s why we do sample ordering,” Taylor said.

Buyers can stay on budget by creating line sheets that calculate their total as they add pieces to their sheet, and the site uses algorithms and search analytics to provide statistics on which merchandise is most ordered, what products are good for the buyer’s market and who are the new designers to check out.

“It’s a tool—we want to work on the side of trade shows,” Dyebo explained. “If you’re attending a trade show in [Las] Vegas, you could go on to BFB and go see what’s going on in that trade show. … Eventually, we’d love to partner with a trade show and do the whole digital aspect.”

The site also features Pinterest-style images and an internal feed wall with how-to’s, tips, and resources for designers and buyers. It can also be linked with an external Twitter feed for more updates from BFB staff.

“We try to help the designers the best way we can,” Dyebo said, “such as the five best tips for pictures, how to put together lookbooks … this boutique just joined. ... We want to keep everyone encouraged.”

The buyers have their own feed wall that features tips, new designers and industry news.

There is a monthly fee of $25 for designers, as well as a charge of 3 percent for every transaction, but for buyers the entire experience is free.

After winning “Best New Entrepreneur in Montreal” in 2011, Dyebo moved from her hometown to run the site from the company’s headquarters in New York, along with help from two friends, who are now business partners—Karl Alomar, who assists with the business strategy, and Ryan Gardner, who helps with the fashion.

Currently, the site only sells women’s contemporary, ready-to-wear and lingerie, but Dyebo said she hopes to expand in the future.

“To have access to all the trade shows in the world online is being able to give the best of both worlds,” she said. “I’d like to get into the men’s market, maybe BFB children. … This is just kind of starting and becoming its own animal.” —Deidre Crawford