Design2trade.com Provides Exposure for Designers, Convenience for Buyers
December 16, 2002
London — Although many investors have soured on Internet ventures, Design2trade.com has been serving textile buyers and designers online for longer than a year. Launched in June 2001, the site hosts more than two thousand textile designs and offers buyers the convenience of viewing multiple designs quickly. Revenues from buyer memberships — $2,700 annually or $450 a month — and sales commissions sustain the site.
Designers can post their work on the site free until next year when design2trade.com will charge them $1 for each design in their current portfolios. Founder and chief executive Paula Newby said that the charge will help maintain the integrity of the site.
"We want designers to put on work that they think will sell," said Newby. "Experienced studios know what's commercial and what isn't. Sometimes freelancers and younger designers need advisement. We don't want a lot of rubbish on the site because the buyer will only come to the site for quality."
Design2trade.com teaches designers how to post and manipulate their portfolios online. "It's like their having their own site," Newby said. "They can move work from their current portfolio into an archive. They can take their work off the site during a meeting so there is no danger of double selling."
Newby said design2trade.com takes per-sale commissions of 15 percent from studios and 30 percent from independent designers. She said the site has about 30 registered buyers including Westpoint Stevens, Pillowtex and Weave Corporation. In December, the site had about 2,500 designs, Newby said.
Design2trade.com also provides trend information and updates of U.K. textile exhibitions.
Newby, herself a former textile buyer, needed two years to raise the capital to launch the site. "The two main issues you face if you say you're involved with the internet and textiles is that people have been burned in Internet ventures and, in the U.K., people aren't impressed with the textiles industry," said Newby. "However, even if the manufacturing has moved to countries in the Far East, design is still important."F&FI
Designers can post their work on the site free until next year when design2trade.com will charge them $1 for each design in their current portfolios. Founder and chief executive Paula Newby said that the charge will help maintain the integrity of the site.
"We want designers to put on work that they think will sell," said Newby. "Experienced studios know what's commercial and what isn't. Sometimes freelancers and younger designers need advisement. We don't want a lot of rubbish on the site because the buyer will only come to the site for quality."
Design2trade.com teaches designers how to post and manipulate their portfolios online. "It's like their having their own site," Newby said. "They can move work from their current portfolio into an archive. They can take their work off the site during a meeting so there is no danger of double selling."
Newby said design2trade.com takes per-sale commissions of 15 percent from studios and 30 percent from independent designers. She said the site has about 30 registered buyers including Westpoint Stevens, Pillowtex and Weave Corporation. In December, the site had about 2,500 designs, Newby said.
Design2trade.com also provides trend information and updates of U.K. textile exhibitions.
Newby, herself a former textile buyer, needed two years to raise the capital to launch the site. "The two main issues you face if you say you're involved with the internet and textiles is that people have been burned in Internet ventures and, in the U.K., people aren't impressed with the textiles industry," said Newby. "However, even if the manufacturing has moved to countries in the Far East, design is still important."F&FI
