Crowd-funding is a buzz-phrase of the moment. People are using it to raise money for many different kinds of project, from novels to novelties, from films to fashion. One of the latest sources of such finance is Wowcracy, aimed at the fashion market and supported by style-bible Vogue. The innovative idea is that consumers are encouraged to look at the profiles of various fashion designers and then lend their support to a collection through the unique crowd sourced arrangement.
Judy R Clark
Scottish Fashion Designer
Understandably, competition amongst designers to be associated with such a brand is intense. Wowcracy considered over 100 submissions from international designers. The award-winning Scottish fashion designer, Judy R Clark, is the only Scot to land one of those coveted place. Over the next 90 days, she’ll be appealing for your support here on the Wowcracy site. Judy – who has created specially-commissioned pieces for Emeli Sande, Levi’s and Ford – must raise £4,000 in order to produce a collection of exclusive Harris Tweed and Scottish lace frock coats. She’s asking for sums ranging from £5 to £850 to get the project off the ground.
Her project – entitled ‘Fashion a Frock Coat’ – will produce the Edinburgh-based designer’s first ready-to-wear line. As Judy explained, “I receive emails every day from people asking where they can get hold of my garments or how they can order my designs. When I heard about Wowcracy I thought it was the perfect platform to showcase my work to a global audience. Through the site, anyone can buy in to my entire design process from start to finish.
Harris Tweed & frock coat with crinoline skirt
“I am offering numerous parts of the journey, from a regular update email blog, limited edition postcards and prints of the designs, to a studio visit inputting in to the overall look of the garments, to of course owning one of my jackets including a ‘Frock Coat’ named in their honour. “By using this crowd-funding approach people will essentially pre-order my creations and become part of my exclusive fashion brand.”
All of the garments will be made in Scotland from Scottish textiles including traditional Harris Tweed from Harris Tweed Hebrides and lace from Ayrshire mill Morton, Young and Borland (MYB Textiles). The ‘Fashion a Frock Coat’ range will consist of a limited number of garments. Twenty five male and twenty five female frock coats will be created, each numbered so the wearer can identify their own unique item. And two lucky people will become owners of a frock coat – one female and one male – named exclusively, complete with the signed design sketches of the garments.
Harris Tweed & Velvet Centennial Frock Coat
Since crowd-funding methods include offering rewards in kind to supporters, other limited-edition items will be available to pre-order from Wowcracy. These include 200 opportunities to feature on Judy’s website as a contributor to the project (and receive her regular blog emails), 250 limited edition postcard packs featuring Judy’s design illustrations, 25 opportunities to work with the designer on the project in her Beaverhall Art Studio in Edinburgh and 20 hand-drawn sketches signed by the designer.
Judy R Clark was named Best New Designer at the Scottish Variety Awards 2012. Originally from Fort William, she has an already growing fan base across the globe. After graduating from Edinburgh’s Heriot Watt University in 2006, she worked with legendary fashion designer Alexander McQueen before going on to launch her own label, and showing her Scottish-inspired works at high profile events such as ‘Dressed to Kilt’ in New York and ‘Tweed goes to Tokyo’ in Japan.