CONSTRVCT
Continuum Fashion
2012-2015
Founder, Product + Design Lead
CONSTRVCT.COM is an online platform for creating clothing designs. The name refers to the word “construct”, which both means an idea comprised of systematic parts as well as the act of creating.
Try It Here
Inspired by my experience in 3D-printing, I invented a process applying technology and workflows from 3D animation to precise apparel fabrication.
Users could upload an image and position it over a 3D model of a dress. When a design was ordered, our software exported a print resolution file of the dress pattern with the mapped image, which was inkjet printed on fabric and then cut and sewn into a dress.
The distinctive feature of our process was being able to map an image seamlessly across multiple cut pieces of a tailored dress, an exponential step above what the standard custom t-shirt company does.
From a business strategy point of view, on-demand production of apparel is a paradigm-shifting idea. Fashion is a consumer category marked with incredibly high frequency of design cycles. Inventory quickly loses value due to the short seasonality of the goods. Being able to sell a wide range of designs without holding inventory is a great advantage.
Printing the fabric enables you to capture all the details for the order right on the fabric. It’s the most streamlined method of producing clothing that you could possibly have.
Also, our customer’s favorite feature was getting their name printed right into the label on the dress.
Startup Story
With outstanding traction in the first 3 months, we were accepted into the Techstars Boston accelerator class of 2013. We were named one of the most exciting startups of this class by Business Insider and Xconomy.
CONSTRVCT was featured on Creators Project, The New York Times, Wired, Huffington Post, Slate, Mashable, as well as many other media channels. Our initial press coverage gave us a boost to achieve organic customer acquisition without paid marketing, which was sustained via social channels.
I wasn't really good at being CEO or fundraising, although I was able to keep the product running for a while. I had many more ideas for Constrvct, but the biggest hindrance was manufacturing. Eventually I had to shut down the service because the fabric I used was discontinued. At last count there were about 12,000 user accounts and over 35,000 designs on the site.
Highlights
CONSTRVCT software and sample textile print was collected and exhibited by the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, as part of their inaugral show "Beautiful Users".
Felicia Day wore a CONSTRVCT dress for the cover photo of her book.
The print is a photo of an op-amp circuit.
A Boston paper did an awesome photoshoot with one of our dresses and an MIT robot.