Online boutique Of a Kind made headlines earlier in the year for being “the first retail site on Tumblr.”
Of a Kind, offers unique, limited-edition clothing and accessories from up-and-coming independent designers on a weekly basis. Everything Of a Kind carries is exclusive to the site, comes in a numbered edition of 5 to 50 pieces, and launches in conjunction with an online editorial, featuring the designers’ stories, their style picks, and what inspires them.
The High Low: How did you initially go about approaching designers to create limited edition pieces for the site? And how did they react?
Claire and Erica: When we first started contacting designers, we were reaching out to them from our personal Gmail addresses, and we were shocked (shocked!) that people responded to us. Designers like Mandy Coon and Matt Singer (who we’ve featured on the site) wrote back to those early emails, and their enthusiasm made us feel even more confident in the concept of the site: these designers clearly needed new, better ways to connect with an audience.
HL: We’ve seen a number of interesting online retail start-ups launch this year. In your opinion, what helps most to make one successful?
C & E: We’re into sites that have a strong point of view. When you visit sites like Fab.com or Mr. Porter, you immediately get a sense of what they’re all about, and the curation is really strong. We hope people feel the same way when they come to Of a Kind. And, of course, we’re strong believers in editorial and are psyched to see more and more e-commerce sites going down that road.
Read the rest of the interview on The High Low
