Paris-based fashion consultancy SuperSolid will launch a new brand incubator on June 24 during Paris Fashion Week Men’s.
The studio, run by former model agent Alex Sossah and design consultant Etienne Derœux, raised an undisclosed sum in seed funding in January to finance the project, in a round led by Net-a-Porter co-founder Carmen Busquets and fashion tech start-up Uppfirst.
SuperSolid, which has advised brands such as Nike, Heron Preston, Mowalola and Jean Paul Gautier on areas such as design, product development and business expansion, is launching its incubator programme in order to support a new wave of up-and-coming designers, the founders told BoF. The intention is to provide business know-how to allow rising designers, who may still be lacking in commercial acumen, to focus on the creative aspects of their brand while learning the ropes.
“There are not many people from the culture who sit on the business side,” said Sossah, who signed A$AP Rocky and Travis Scott to Next Model Management in the early 2010s, and who now operates London-based advisory agency, Metallic Inc. “Our goal is to create a mini fashion group that sits a little more on the side of the culture itself.”
So far, SuperSolid has invested in three brands as part of its incubator programme: Paris-based ready-to-wear label Forma; London-based travelwear start-up Sharkkini; and Kids Dreams and Nightmares, a brand bridging streetwear and high fashion aesthetics. recently launched by Sossah himself.
As part of the programme, SuperSolid has taken over a pop-up showroom in Paris at 3537 — Dover Street Market’s space dedicated to retail and cultural events — where the brands and their founders will meet with buyers, press and members of the public who will all be able to place orders on collections, via the Uppfirst platform.
Allowing consumers to place advance orders on products at the same time as buyers will help provide the fledgling brands with vital cash flow to foot production costs and mitigate potential excess inventory, said Derœux, who has worked with labels such as Y/Project and Heron Preston.
Sossah and Derœux said the incubator and the showroom model address a disconnect between consumers and brands, in which shoppers today don’t need department store buyers or magazine editors to lend credibility to certain brands or trends; through social media, they already have direct access to brands.
“It’s important for us to break down the segregation we always see at fashion events,” Sossah said. “At the showroom, the public will be able to interact, transact and connect with the brand founders in the same way as buyers or editors would.”
