Elsa and Me, a clothing retailer based in Bushwick recently launched a Kickstarter in order to expand their tailor-made dress business and shorten production times.
Founder, Maja Svensson, argues that “the standard-sizing for most women’s clothes only fits about 15% of women.” All women have to do is think back to the piles of ill-fitting clothes left in changing rooms all around the city to see how accurate that ballpark statistic might be.
This Kickstarter campaign will help fund a bulk order of fabric in order to help the company maintain its pricing model. The 195 dollar prize level will net you a custom-made dress, which is 100 dollars less than the current prices listed on the website.
Customers can choose from three different silhouettes and customize the neckline, sleeve length and color. Near the end of the process, customers are asked to submit measurements just like the ones a tailor would need.
It’s not cheap, but fast fashion contributes to problems such as unsafe working conditions and pollution in countries with an exploitable workforce and lax laws.
Because Elsa and Me’s operation is small and nimble, they can “come to people’s homes and offices for in-person fittings and fitting events – meaning [they] don’t have an exact location in New York entirely for the business.”
Svensson adds, “I believe that the future of fashion is the merging of made-to-measure clothing and e-commerce.”
It’s a great opportunity to pull yourself away from those seductive fashion week runway photos.