In the halls of FIT this past Friday, Afingo.com gathered many of the highest acclaimed movers of the fashion industry to talk to the up-and-coming shakers about innovations and realities of the business. Launching later this month, Afingo.com is a self-proclaimed “match.com” for designers and factories. Their goal is to provide real world knowledge and connections to fashion professionals and newbies alike to enable sustainable production and the ability to Get It Made. We heard from the likes of Adam Lippes, the SVP of Groupon, CEO and founder of Source4Style, the men of Costello Tagliapietra and Duckie Brown, Fern Mallis, and 20 other garment industry innovators on four different panels of buzz worthy topics: 1. Fashion Innovation, 2. Sustainability & Philanthropy, 3. Ready to Launch Your Line? and 4. Social Media & Publicity.  And we also were privy to a conversation with Cynthia Rowley. See what advice here from 6 Fashion Innovators. Check back all week for more. 

FASHION INNOVATION

Moderated by the CEO of the exclusive online boutique Rue La La, Ben Fischman, he guided conversation through company pivot moments – turning problems into profit, fundraising, and hypothetical mulligans. A common thread throughout is the utter importance of a good CTO at a cost that won’t eat your whole investment

WARBY PARKER

Neil Blumenthal, co-founder of Warby Parker spoke solving the world’s problems, his focus: glasses. In addition to creating an online shop for inexpensive, vintage inspired specs, they have a TOMS Shoes-like program of one-for-one.

His advice: “It’s about finding need and being deliberate.” & “Invest in customer service. If people have an unexpectedly great experience, they’ll talk about us.” & “It’s not, ‘How can we earn more?’ but ‘How can we do more?’”

RENT THE RUNWAY

Love. Wear. Return believes Jennifer Hyman, co-founder of Rent The Runway. With no background in fashion, they attempted the uncharted business model of renting top designer dresses to anyone. They convinced countless designers that giving young girls a taste of their brands could result in lifelong clients. They ran iterative tests for a year: will designers sell at wholesale? Will sorority girls ruin them? Yes and no and it’s working.

Her advice: “Don’t write a business plan, do it and figure it out.” On finding the right investor, “Interview them like a husband-to-be. Put them to work. Who’s going to do the hard work after they write the check?”

MODA OPERANDI

Moda Operandi began with Aslaug Magnusdottir’s desire to let the customer be her own merchandiser and allow designers’ favorite pieces to actually reach the wearer by being able to order pieces immediately after seeing them on the runway.

Her advice: “If there is a gap in the market. Do it, or someone else will.” On finding the right CTO, “Do research and be adaptable.” On fundraising, “Raise a little, prove the concept, raise more.”

KICKSTARTER

Yancey Strickler’s waiter at Diner in Williamsburg became his business partner for a company that exists to get companies started. Kickstarter is a platform for artists, designers, musicians, creative, energized folk to fundraise for their project. They fundraised their own project by asking those he admired in the entertainment industry, whom he felt would see what they were doing. His first investor: David Cross.

His advice: On finding the right CTO: “We found someone smarter than us that didn’t think we were idiots.”

GROUPON

The fastest growing company in America’s Senior VP Darren Schwartz talked about the pivot point of Groupon. When the initial idea for a place of collective action to raise money for campaigns proved unprofitable, they turned the idea of collective action to another motive: to save customers' money while promoting businesses.

His advice: “Fundraise when you can, maybe even before you need it.” On changing strategy, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Hold onto the seed of the good idea.”

Come back tomorrow to see what Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra of Costello Tagliapietra, Fashion Consultant Julie Gilhart, Goods4Good founder Melissa Kushner, Source4Style founder Summer Rayne Oakes, Eco-Chick Publisher Starre Vartan and Lulu Frost founder Lisa Salzer have to say about Sustainability and Philanthropy.