(NEW YORK) IMG Fashion is on a roll. After signing Toronto Fashion Week and Istanbul Fashion Week in the second half of last year, the company has announced a new partnership with Joor, the leading online fashion wholesale marketplace. The deal consists of a two-way trade. Any retailer or buyer who registers at an IMG Fashion event, including over 38 fashion weeks worldwide, will be invited to join Joor with the goal of amping up designer sales, thus connecting them with over 500 designers in the Joor network including Thakoon, Diane von Furstenberg, McQ by Alexander McQueen, 3.1 Phillip Lim, and Rag & Bone. Meanwhile, over 30,000 existing Joor buyers and retailers will be given access to attend a slew of IMG Fashion events.
“We think of ourselves as Facebook for the fashion community, where brands and retailers have their own profile pages.” said Joor founder and CEO Mona Bijoor to The Daily. “Brands get access to a growing visual directory of retailers, our iPad app for order intake, data analytics, and a platform to showcase linesheets, lookbooks, and press.”
The paperwork-free digital model is paying off. In 2012, Joor boasted over $100 million in sale transactions. This year, the company is slated to complete over $350 million. “Nothing was wrong, per se, [with the pre-Joor wholesale model] but it needed enhancement,” continued Bijoor. “Up until now, 99 percent of wholesale buying happened offline—retailers and brands were missing a digital channel to do business. Designers have focused a lot of energy on e-commerce for their consumer business, so why not turn to digital for wholesale as well?”
