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Kickstarter fashion: Retail disrupter, or oxymoron?

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The Unstainable White Shirt was successfully funded with $221,159 pledged in May 2015. It uses nanotechnology to repel liquids.
The Unstainable White Shirt was successfully funded with $221,159 pledged in May 2015. It uses nanotechnology to repel liquids.Elizabeth & Clarke

When an unwelcome gust of wind blew Kimber-Lee Alston’s skirt up to expose more of her body than she was comfortable revealing to her fellow San Franciscans, she was embarrassed — and inspired.

“My first thought was I wanted to put on shorts that look like a skirt,” said Alston, founder of the clothing brand Jolie Coquette. “Then, I began talking to women, and my idea turned into a Playsuit that has many elements of functionality.”

Skipping the traditional route of distributing the item to retailers, Alston unveiled her cotton rayon knit Playsuit on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in August. “I pretty much had no money, and I was like, ‘What can I do that is very cost-effective, won’t require me to spend a lot of money up-front and will test the concept?” she recounted. “Kickstarter seemed the smartest way to do that.”

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Fashion’s low success rate

Alston is just one of many hopefuls who have rolled the dice with crowdfunding. In fact, projects that pass muster are the minority, particularly when it comes to fashion. Kickstarter premiered in 2009, a year after rival crowdfunding website Indiegogo. Since then, 10.2 million backers have poured $2.16 billion into roughly 279,000 projects, close to 99,600 (or 35 percent) of which were successfully funded. A mere 3.5 percent (or 3,517) of the successful projects were in the fashion category. In total, there have been 14,536 fashion projects, and three-fourths of them have failed.

But the Playsuit’s thigh-skimming flared culottes, deep pockets, internal chest pouch for credit cards, bra strap holders to stop bras from slipping and hidden snaps for quick bathroom trips were a hit with Kickstarter backers, who pledged more $30,000 to bring it to life, tripling Alston’s goal of $10,000.

Meanwhile, Stephen Burrows received a harsh lesson in Kickstarter’s fickle funding. In early June, the fashion designer’s hopes of a Kickstarter-fueled comeback fizzled when he raised $12,160, not even 5 percent of the $300,000 he sought to produce a greatest-hits collection of the colorful clothes he created during the heyday of disco.

Around the same time, among Kickstarter’s most successful campaigns were the Unstainable White Shirt, apparel’s answer to coffee and spaghetti sauce; MagBelt, a magnetic band that adjusts to your waist whether you’re twerking or simply standing; and the Drinking Jacket, outerwear stocked with a hidden flask, beer koozie pocket and bottle opener.

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It’s getting harder to sort out kitsch from quality on websites like Kickstarter. The growing number of As Seen On TV-type clothing campaigns raises questions about the promise of crowdfunding to shepherd pioneering products that might not have become a reality if not for the financial support of millions of backers.

Despite its egalitarian mission to champion creativity from a panoply of sources, is crowdfunding just becoming a snazzier way to sell crap?

Kimber-Lee Alston, in San Francisco , Calif., on Tues. January 19, 2016, models her onesie playsuit that was funded though Kickstarter.
Kimber-Lee Alston, in San Francisco , Calif., on Tues. January 19, 2016, models her onesie playsuit that was funded though Kickstarter.Michael Macor/The Chronicle

“There is a lot of gimmicky stuff in the Kickstarter fashion world, and that’s annoying,” lamented Stephen Powell, co-founder of Gustin, a San Francisco menswear brand that raised almost $500,000 on Kickstarter in 2013 to erect its own crowdfunding channel, a fresh approach to apparel distribution at the time that allowed Gustin to exit retail. Kickstarter projects are often not so groundbreaking.

Idea launchpad

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“There are a lot of people using Kickstarter as a store. Kickstarter should be about launching new ideas and novel projects, not about being a storefront,” said Josh Gustin, Powell’s fellow co-founder at Gustin.

Kimber-Lee Alston, in San Francisco , Calif., on Tues. January 19, 2016, models her onesie playsuit that was funded though Kickstarter.
Kimber-Lee Alston, in San Francisco , Calif., on Tues. January 19, 2016, models her onesie playsuit that was funded though Kickstarter.Michael Macor/The Chronicle

Gems remain within the Kickstarter milieu, however. Ethan Mollick, an assistant professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who has extensively studied crowdfunding, says, “It’s not surprising that stuff that sells really well on infomercials would also sell really well to the large mass of people who are looking at projects, but it doesn’t poison the well for innovation.”

The problem, and advantage, of crowdfunding vehicles is their neutrality. Kickstarter’s primary rules involve projects netting an outcome, whether in film or fashion, that’s shareable; presentations that are clear and honest; and a prohibition on soliciting investment or charity donations. Nothing is expressed about the virtues of various goods. “You just have to know what you are getting into and accept that Kickstarter has a wide range of projects. There is essentially zero barrier to entry,” Gustin said.

In the absence of a vetting process, patterns have emerged. Beautiful or affordable clothes that might perform well at retail but aren’t exceptional don’t necessarily rise to the top, perhaps a dilemma that doomed Burrows’ Kickstarter endeavor.

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Helping the world

Though she’s thrilled with her Kickstarter triumph, Alston acknowledged that the Playsuit didn’t exactly win over the crowdfunding community because of its cutting-edge couture. “When people go on Kickstarter, they ask, ‘How is this helping me or the world?’” she said. “When it’s something that’s not necessarily about that, it’s harder to communicate.”

Kickstarter community members “sniff out products that are only slightly better than what’s out there,” said Aman Advani, CEO and co-founder of Ministry of Supply, a high-performance men’s business-attire maker in Boston that secured nearly $430,000 on Kickstarter in 2013. Zane Lamprey, creator of the Drinking Jacket, asserted, “If the product isn’t innovative or disruptive to the market, people won’t get behind it.”

Like e-commerce elsewhere, items that require careful fitting and that customers prefer to touch prior to spending on aren’t the easiest to push on Kickstarter. Items like wallets, watches and sunglasses on Kickstarter “have universal appeal, and there isn’t too much consideration going into a purchase,” said Adam Saraceno, marketing director at San Francisco camera accessories company Peak Design. The company recently pulled in $4.87 million, the most for a bag on Kickstarter, for its Everyday Messenger. Unlike e-commerce elsewhere, discounts don’t cut it.

One-hit wonders

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“You’re not going to be successful on Kickstarter saying, ‘Check out these great-fitting jeans for only $69.99 a pair,’Saraceno says, “and you’re not going to entice fashion shoppers who want to try on a whole bunch of stuff before they buy.”

Advani distinguished between companies building sustainable brands (both on and off Kickstarter) and those seeking one-hit (or multiple-hit) wonders. Frequently, the latter has outshone the former in crowdfunding.

The World’s Best Travel Jacket With 15 Features, for example, “is a good example of what might be a great product, but, to me as a customer, not necessarily something I would back (as a brand),” Advani said. Alston has also noticed the focus on singular items like her Playsuit makes it “hard to focus on the importance of the brand. Branding is so important to me, and that can get lost on platforms like Kickstarter.”

But campaigners and backers continue to believe in the power of crowdfunding to catapult change. Kickstarter fashion campaigners contend that crowdfunding propels worthwhile products that wouldn’t have withstood scrutiny from retail buyers. Or, if they did, they would take longer to get to stores and would be priced higher. “That distribution model is broken,” said Gustin, indicting the mainstream apparel apparatus for inflated pricing.

Or is it? Alston isn’t dismissive of retail. In fact, it’s an avenue she’s pursued following her Kickstarter accomplishment. “I just started meeting the local shop owners in my neighborhood, and I think it could be really helpful,” said Alston. “Retail can be more lucrative than selling directly online.”

Rachel Brown is a Bay Area freelance writer. E-mail: style@sfchronicle.com

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