The Fashion Techie

Afingo.com, The New Fashion Kid on The Social Media Block

January 7th, 2010

“We have designed a virtual cocktail party for anyone who loves fashion.” -Liza Deyrmenjian, CEO & Co-founder of Afingo.com

The one thing everyone asks me when speaking at conferences and workshops is “what is a great place online to network in the fashion industry?”. I wish I could answer their question effectively, but the truth is I can only count on one hand the number of social networking sites that are worth signing up for. Which is why, whenever a new one comes out I thoroughly investigate to see if the time spent on the site networking is worth your ROI.

I must say, I’m pretty impressed with the new fashion networking site on the scene, Afingo.com. Afingo, whose tagline is “refashion your network” is a fashion based online forum that merges the four necessities of online networking: Consumers, retailers, professionals and designers. Usually when searching online for a networking site you get one or two of these combinations, not all four, which makes Afingo a serious competitor to other networking sites.

So what’s in it for you? If you fall in the four categories you can look forward to a number of perks from joining:

Consumers Have A Voice
If you are a consumer and fashion enthusiast that wants to get a closer to designers, retailers and professionals, Afingo offers you plenty of features including the ability to rate designs, purchase clothing, win prizes and vote on important issues that can help designers tweak their brands. It takes social shopping to another level. You are not just uploading and rating products you love, you are actually interacting with designers and helping them perfect their merchandise.

Designers Get Much Needed Feedback
For designers, if Afingo.com increases its membership base, this resource will be invaluable because you have the ability to expose your work to an international audience with real answers and feedback unlike ineffective “rate my design” sites. Also, you get real access to professionals and have the ability to ask real questions and get real answers. You can also get real feedback from real consumers.

Retailers Get a Plethora of Resources at Their Fingertips
Whether you are brick and mortar or click and mortar, Afingo.com allows you to locate showrooms, connect with designers and buy wholesale, and most importantly, sell your merchandise.

The Professionals Finally Show Up Online
I don’t know about you, but finding line reps, wholesalers and fashion professionals online, the ones that can really make decisions, is a nightmare. If Afingo does what they plan to do, these instrumental people will be at your fingertips ready to engage. Professionals will be able to market their products and services to specific designers in the fashion industry as well as develop business, find investors and discover new opportunities in advertising.

With that said, there are a few things about Afingo.com that should be mentioned.

First, the network is new on the scene and will need some time to build the right membership for it to be effective. But, don’t underestimate their “newness”. Afingo.com founders, Liza Deyrmenjian and Moe Somani, are a powerful pair and have a career rap sheet that’s to die for. Also, Afingo.com’s top retailers include Gryphon, House of Berardi, Olivia Rubin, Danielle Nicole, Obataimu, Cynthia Steffe, ecoSkin, Jonano, Julie Apple, Jay Kos and Christopher Collins. They also have retailers/boutiques in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, including Saturdays Surf, ATC, and Christopher Collins Boutique.

Secondly, the network is free until Feb 2010, after that the membership cost for designers, retailers and suppliers is $299 per year (consumers sign up for free always). So the best way to decide if this will be worth your ROI is to sign up now while it’s free and see if it works for your business…it just may be worth your investment.

Check out my Afingo.com profile at http://www.afingo.com/user/514.  Head over there, try it out, and let me know what you think.