Hi, Hayley Katz here. I run the day-to-day at the Columbia Startup Lab.
Each month I’m able to give you the inside scoop on a few of the 40 or so startups here at The Lab.
This month we’re looking at Columbia Fashion Founders. These are a just a few of their stories.
Thursday Boot Company
Columbia Startup Lab members Connor Wilson ʼ15BUS and Nolan Walsh ʼ15BUS were born and bred in boot country; Connor from Colorado and Nolan from Nevada. Both always appreciated that there is something special about a quality pair of footwear but there is also something horrifying about paying $400 or more for a well-heeled pair of boots. So, before founding Thursday Boot Company the pair did what we all do, bought the less expensive option. And yes, you guessed it, by the end of winter, the cheap boots were already worn out.
It was an offhand remark about this disappointment that led the two to realize the opportunity for improvement. The problem was that options were limited: either low-price, low-quality, or high-style, high-quality budget-busters. Why couldn’t they market a boot with all the ruggedness required to wear the whole season with a style suitable for the office? What the world needed was a well-designed boot with a working sole and a stylish soul.
Thursday Boot Company offers a complete line of boots that are durable,
good-looking and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
Beyond the boot, Connor and Nolan have also focused on the complete customer experience; from providing dedicated customer service to how-to videos for men on the proper way to wear boots. Check out their social media channels @thursdayboots. In their second year of business, the success of their first line has seen their product line expand with styles from Chukkas to Chelsea boots. They’ve opened up pop-up shops in New York and D.C. and have started stocking in Trunk Club locations.
Funding and revenue is as strong as their marketing machine. While they’re keeping the next steps of Thursday Boots relatively under wraps, great things are on the horizon with more partnerships, limited editions, and new products sure to follow. So what are you waiting for? Run don’t walk to their website and order a great pair of boots.
…
Aisling Knits
At first blush Aisling Camps ʼ08SEAS, seems a bundle of contradiction. Her Gaelic name belies her Trinidadian heritage. Her passion for knitwear contradicts her education as a mechanical engineer. Even her hand-made designs go against the conventional thinking of what traditional knitted designs can do.
After graduating Columbia with an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering she dutifully went to work for a consulting company but never quite found contentment in her day-to-day assignments. As her mind wandered and her eyes gazed out the window, a cluster of buildings came into focus. It was the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her vocation would soon change.
Two or three classes became an Associate’s Degree; the Associate’s a Bachelor’s and the Bachelor’s turned into AislingKnits line of knitwear designs that defies expectations and is perfectly complementary with her contradictory nature: knitted styles for summer.
Aisling designs and creates bespoke cardigans, tops, and dresses that bloom in warm sunlight.
See the collection for yourself. When it debuted, she saw the fruits of her labor and talent pay off big time with a constant stream of orders. Today, Aisling works tirelessly in New York to produce, promote, and perfect her brand. And in so doing, she sees the symmetry in her life aligning in her AislingKnits brand: Engineered Elegance.
…
Closet Collective
It started with a problem every woman has, Seema Gohil ʼ13BUS, had nothing to wear. Turning to her best friend and future co-founder Claire Allison for help, Seema joked that borrowing clothes would be much easier if Allison’s closet were available online for easy browsing.
The more they thought about it, the more it made sense. Inspired by the on-demand economy of Airbnb and noticing the absence of everyday wear on websites like Rent the Runway, Gohil and Allison decided to launch Closet Collective, a place where women could monetize their closets, expand their wardrobe, and find eco-friendly solutions to the fast-fashion phenomenon.
Taking advice from Columbia University Senior Fellow for Entrepreneurship Steve Blank, the budding entrepreneurs did everything themselves, from designing the first website to schlepping silks and stilettos through Manhattan snowstorms. Bootstrapping will make even the most intrepid founders do the most menial tasks. But it’s not without its upside: “it’s impossible to automate something unless you understand it completely.” Allison says.
Thankfully, the entrepreneurs have been able to streamline their system so that their work day no longer consists of transporting pieces from apartment to apartment. With their “White Glove Service,” Closet Collective sends the lender a bag that she then fills with pieces to post on the site.
As every woman knows, sizing is not standard. That’s why Gohil and Allison include applicable fit information for each piece, from bust, waist, and hip measurements for tighter-fitting pieces to whether the garment runs true to size for outerwear and looser pieces. They also know the perils of online shopping and allow borrowers 48 hours to verify that the piece fits and looks great before their month-long lend time begins.
Besides making it possible for women to wear designer brands like Elizabeth & James, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Red Valentino, and Theory, Closet Collective has also developed relationships with new and emerging designers. Allison says that working with emerging designers lets them see what pieces sell, garner exposure for their brand, and enter the market without having to create a full line or be picked up by stores. Their customers also love these partnerships because it’s a chance to get designs that are unavailable anywhere else — gone are the days of awkward avoidance with your holiday party twin — and to wear new and interesting pieces.
While the Columbia’s classes were great for teaching the entrepreneurs how to conceptualize a successful business, applying knowledge practically was a challenge. But the Columbia Startup Lab was able to fill this void. The collaborative environment that’s encouraged by the Lab’s format makes it easy to learn from each other. “What’s great about the Lab is that … when one company is trying to figure out Facebook ads, there’s a company sitting next to them that can help them do it,” Allison notes. The “community sort of takes on that practical knowledge distribution.”
For the future, Closet Collective has high expectations for themselves: “There’s no reason that Closet Collective should be any smaller than Airbnb because girls have a lot more clothes and wear them every day of their lives.” They plan to continue to grow and evolve the brand and have a few partnerships that are too exciting to mention–for now. What we can say is that Gohil and Allison are on their way to bigger projects and bigger success, and they’re going to be dressed well doing it.