New E-Tailer Stakes Claim on Indie Design
Take two fashion-forward sisters and mix in a bevy of up-and-coming designers and you get StantonJames.com, a recently launched contemporary e-tail site based in Beverly Hills.
“We wanted to focus on urban and independent designers,” said co-founder Brooke Price, one half of the duo behind StantonJames.com, along with her sister, Brittany. “All of our designers have a story, and there’s something different about them.”
Brooke Price spent a number of years in sales for Clear Channel at the KIIS-FM station in Los Angeles, while Brittany handles the styling on the site. The e-tail newbies decided to put their talents together in creating StantonJames.com—named after their mother’s maiden name and father’s first name.
According to Brooke Price, the sisters had a clear idea of what they wanted the site to look like from the beginning. She said they wanted a cleaner aesthetic that would give their online store a different vibe from other e-tail sites. “We didn’t want a bunch of extra stuff and no extra buttons, and we said to our Web designers, ’When in doubt, go with white,’” she said.
The site currently works on consignment with designers and labels such as Plastic Island, Elaine Kim, Maxine Dillon and Lotta Stensson, allowing for the sisters to launch the site and focus on press and marketing, according to Brooke Price.
StantonJames.com already has a foothold in social networking, with active Twitter and Facebook accounts as well as a regularly updated blog. The sisters are heavily engaged in the fashion blogosphere, and these tools allow for a better bridge in reaching out to customers.
“We want more of an involved shopping experience,” Brooke Price said. “Our customers are able to get more than just a piece of clothing; they are inspired and get style ideas.”
Brooke Price said the site is in the process of adding 15 new designers to the roster, including Khoi Le, a 21-year-old designer from New York who specializes in sleek leather handbags, and Kate MacKenzie, who creates hardware pieces and accessories.
Designers doing well on the site include Brigid Catiis, whose designs are reworked from vintage recycled fabric.
Reaction to the site has been positive, according to Brooke Price, an encouraging sign in an overall unstable economy and retail market. She said she hopes to come out of the other side of this recession better prepared.
“We are cutting our teeth in this economy,” she said. “So when it gets better, we would have done everything when the economy was bad and be able to move forward.” —Connie Cho
