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2017 Newsmaker: DSTLD Commits to Crowd-Funding and Pop-Up Shops
Los Angeles–based direct-to-consumer label DSTLD is continuing its brand-building efforts by rolling out a series of pop-up shops across Southern California. The first was at the Culver City, Calif.–based mixed-use retail center Platform earlier this year, and the most recent pop-up, which will be open through the holidays, is on La Cienega Boulevard.
In the future, the company plans to continue to open pop-up shops around Southern California as well as in New York.
The temporary retail spaces give consumers a chance to view the collection in person and get to know the brand’s ethos—upscale “essentials” including jeans, leather jackets, wool coats and accessories. The stores also drive traffic to the DSTLD website (www.dstld.com). Rather than take their purchases home, customers’ items are shipped to them.
Since the company was founded in 2014 by Corey Epstein and Mark Lynn, DSTLD has been building the brand by leveraging the data-rich benefits of e-commerce. The company uses real-time data to determine what to keep in the line and how to plan the assortments by size and color.
The company is also committed to a crowdfunding model since it first began taking advantage of provisions in the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act, which gives small U.S. businesses new opportunities to raise capital from the investor market.
The first round of fund-raising from small-scale investors was successful, and the company has embraced the method as its core financing strategy. In August, DSTLD opened up its second round and plans to build its roster of investors, which includes “brand advocate” customers who want to own a piece of the company. Investors are given access to a personal dashboard that allows them to track DSTLD’s business and track the progress of the brand.
