Excited to announce that the newest episode of Startup Roadshow will be featuring Philadelphia! Looking forward to heading to my hometown and learning about all the exciting and interesting companies calling Philly home. Reposting a story from last year on Colabination, an awesome philly startup taking a new spin on how consumers find their favorite designers. Be on the lookout for the new podcast epsiode this week, and enjoy the story about Colabination in the meantime:
Meet Philadelphia's Hottest New Startup Looking to change The Landscape of Online Shopping
the CoLabination team On the rainy and cold morning before Thanksgiving, members of the Philadelphia based startup CoLabination gathered in their small co-working space to share what they accomplished the previous day and what they wanted to achieve that day. But before the team could break and start their tasks, everyone had to share a life goal and a value. For some it’s a breeze and they can’t wait to share, for others, it’s a pain to get something out, and for a casual observer it’s a sign of a company doing things differently and doing them in a meaningful way.
I recently spent a few hours hanging out at CoLabination’s co-working space near Drexel’s campus meeting the various team members to hear not only about their unique backgrounds, but also understand the passion shared by each employee working at CoLabination. All of the feedback I received was unique and honest, especially what I heard from the guy who dreamed up a particularly innovative concept only a couple of years ago.
I recently spent a few hours hanging out at CoLabination’s co-working space near Drexel’s campus meeting the various team members to hear not only about their unique backgrounds, but also understand the passion shared by each employee working at CoLabination. All of the feedback I received was unique and honest, especially what I heard from the guy who dreamed up a particularly innovative concept only a couple of years ago.
Founder/CEO Scott Latham A professed entrepreneur at heart, Scott Latham tried his hand at building and running a Philadelphia based streetwear brand called Flight Crew Clothing a few years back. While things were progressing with the company, one retailer here, a couple sponsorships there, Scott quickly ran into the expensive problem of geographic expansion, a challenge that plagues nearly all small and independent clothing brands. Most apparel or streetwear brands either sell directly through their website or through a handful of smaller boutiques offering local and underground products, but this can be both a costly and inefficient route for brands like Scott’s looking to gain visibility well beyond the zip code they were started in.
“I knew there had to be a better way,” Latham said. So he has set out to overcome the extreme fragmentation that permeates the streetwear and underground apparel industry. “Its an exciting opportunity because at first what I thought I was doing was just solving a problem for brands similar to mine, but what we’ve realized is that it has grown into two really big problems, one for brands and one for shoppers,” Latham explains.
Scott split his time between refining this concept with the help of other entrepreneurs at Seed Philly, an early stage incubator for Philadelphia startups, and gathering an all-star team that could contribute to the mission right away. Within a year, what was a frustration became a solution in the form of CoLabination, an e-commerce startup in Philadelphia focused on providing a marketplace for brand discovery and collection.
“I knew there had to be a better way,” Latham said. So he has set out to overcome the extreme fragmentation that permeates the streetwear and underground apparel industry. “Its an exciting opportunity because at first what I thought I was doing was just solving a problem for brands similar to mine, but what we’ve realized is that it has grown into two really big problems, one for brands and one for shoppers,” Latham explains.
Scott split his time between refining this concept with the help of other entrepreneurs at Seed Philly, an early stage incubator for Philadelphia startups, and gathering an all-star team that could contribute to the mission right away. Within a year, what was a frustration became a solution in the form of CoLabination, an e-commerce startup in Philadelphia focused on providing a marketplace for brand discovery and collection.
talking at the CoLabation offices Aiming to be a new online option for smaller and independent designers, CoLabination tackles the e-commerce and business side of the apparel industry and allows designers to devote more time and energy to their passion for making great clothes. “There’s so many of theses small businesses out there that have tried to set up an online presence but its not working for them because its not being aggregated and no one can find them,” Latham explains with the zeal of someone confident that the market is in dire need of a better solution. “So in essence, what were doing is aggregating the future of shopping online.”
CoLabination boils down to three main features benefiting both brands and consumers. For discovery, shoppers use the Rolodex to scroll through and check out the newest or most popular products featured on the site. If you click on a shirt or hoodie that catches your eye, you are taken to that brand’s Showroom. Once inside the Showroom, users can browse and purchase what the brand offers, but they also get a better understanding of the story and people behind that particular brand. “We let designers tell their stories,” insists CoLabination’s Brand Specialist Tyler Blaisdell. “Ideally, we want CoLabination to serve as a platform for connecting shoppers with brands from all around the country.” If a certain brand keeps displaying apparel you like, you can add them to your X Collection, a personally created profile allowing users to define themselves by the brands they collect.
Sitting down with Tyler and Paul Dziemianowicz, CoLabination’s product expert, I quickly appreciated the tricky yet crucial balance CoLabination is striving for when it comes to building a site that is easy and intuitive to use but also allows brands to express themselves. Currently, a limited number of e-commerce startups feature up-and-coming brands, but they often leave shoppers feeling overwhelmed and confused. After just a couple minutes on the site, I could already see why every member of CoLabination has taken such pride in offering a simple shopping experience for consumers who are passionate about discovering new and interesting brands.
Despite being such an early stage venture, CoLabination is already making noise in Philly’s growing startup ecosystem. An endless pool of young talent from schools like University of Pennsylvania and Drexel combined with a renewed push for small business investment from City Hall has helped to strengthen Philly’s startup scene. Every single CoLabination employee expressed his or her desire to help create a more collaborative community for the entrepreneurs within the city and make it a final destination instead of just a launching pad for young and growing startups.
Whether the topic is the Philly startup scene or the fragmented market for streetwear and underground apparel, talking with any of the CoLabination employees gives off a strong sense of excitement not only in what CoLabinaton stands for, but what it might become. More than anything, this team seems driven by the excitement and energy that comes from creating a service addressing a massive challenge facing both brands and the people that want to wear their products.
CoLabination boils down to three main features benefiting both brands and consumers. For discovery, shoppers use the Rolodex to scroll through and check out the newest or most popular products featured on the site. If you click on a shirt or hoodie that catches your eye, you are taken to that brand’s Showroom. Once inside the Showroom, users can browse and purchase what the brand offers, but they also get a better understanding of the story and people behind that particular brand. “We let designers tell their stories,” insists CoLabination’s Brand Specialist Tyler Blaisdell. “Ideally, we want CoLabination to serve as a platform for connecting shoppers with brands from all around the country.” If a certain brand keeps displaying apparel you like, you can add them to your X Collection, a personally created profile allowing users to define themselves by the brands they collect.
Sitting down with Tyler and Paul Dziemianowicz, CoLabination’s product expert, I quickly appreciated the tricky yet crucial balance CoLabination is striving for when it comes to building a site that is easy and intuitive to use but also allows brands to express themselves. Currently, a limited number of e-commerce startups feature up-and-coming brands, but they often leave shoppers feeling overwhelmed and confused. After just a couple minutes on the site, I could already see why every member of CoLabination has taken such pride in offering a simple shopping experience for consumers who are passionate about discovering new and interesting brands.
Despite being such an early stage venture, CoLabination is already making noise in Philly’s growing startup ecosystem. An endless pool of young talent from schools like University of Pennsylvania and Drexel combined with a renewed push for small business investment from City Hall has helped to strengthen Philly’s startup scene. Every single CoLabination employee expressed his or her desire to help create a more collaborative community for the entrepreneurs within the city and make it a final destination instead of just a launching pad for young and growing startups.
Whether the topic is the Philly startup scene or the fragmented market for streetwear and underground apparel, talking with any of the CoLabination employees gives off a strong sense of excitement not only in what CoLabinaton stands for, but what it might become. More than anything, this team seems driven by the excitement and energy that comes from creating a service addressing a massive challenge facing both brands and the people that want to wear their products.
RSS Feed
