Representational image only
Project September, a fashion marketplace, is the first ‘immersive, visual shopping experience’, says the company led by Gilt Groupe鈥檚 founding Chief Executive Officer Alexis Maybank.
Project September, a fashion marketplace, is the first ‘immersive, visual shopping experience’, says the company led by Gilt Groupe鈥檚 founding Chief Executive Officer Alexis Maybank. The app allows a connection between fashion and design influencers, their audiences and their preferred brands. With this app, consumers can bridge the gap between social browsing and online shopping by tapping an image to instantly make a purchase. Project September is also helmed by Leah Park, serving as Chief Design Officer and Dustin Whitney, Chief Technology Officer.
“Until now, I had to search blindly for items that caught my eye on social media, often never discovering where I could actually make my purchase online,” says Alexis Maybank, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Project September. 鈥淭his was frustrating. So we set out to build a shopping experience where consumers could shop directly from photos.鈥�/p>
As former Gilt executives, Alexis Maybank and Leah Park noticed an increase in web traffic coming to Gilt.com from social media platforms. Maybank and Park realised that consumers were discovering products that piqued their interest but there wasn鈥檛 a way to easily move from social browsing to making an instantaneous purchase. They set out to make the visual world shoppable, and they teamed with Co-founder Dustin Whitney to build a strikingly beautiful, visual marketplace where fashion鈥檚 devotees could follow their favorite influencers, swipe from image to image, and easily tap to buy.
Project September has recruited a cadre of fashion advisors including: Marie Claire Creative Director Nina Garcia, Creative Director of House of Harlow 1960 Nicole Richie, model and activist Christy Turlington Burns; as well as top social influencers Patrick Janelle, Pari Ehsan and Blake Scott among others.
鈥淭he talent and industry leaders participating are a testament to Project September鈥檚 alignment with top creative influences in the fashion and beauty industries,鈥� says Creative Director of Marie Claire magazine Nina Garcia. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to join Project September as an Advisor as social content is evolving in this direction, and I am thrilled to be a part of the revolution.鈥�/p>
The founders have raised money from William Morris Endeavor (WME Ventures), Venrock, Greylock Partners, First Round Capital, Montage Ventures and others.
鈥淧roject September redefines the fashion discovery experience with an elegant, social interface that harnesses the psychology of fashion buyers: browse broadly, follow those whose looks you like, and purchase on impulse,鈥� says Venrock Partner Nick Beim. 鈥淚t takes advantage of the rapidly growing wave of user generated fashion content to create a beautifully immersive experience that users don鈥檛 want to end.鈥�/p>
Project September, named for the start of the fashion calendar, is designed as a shoppable, shareable digital magazine spread. Anyone can join and share their style and design images with audiences on Project September and also across Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. All creators can earn a commission from the sale of items purchased through their work.
Tags: app, Facebook, Gilt, Instagram, Online Shopping, Pinterest, shopping, Social Media, startup