Crowdfunding Might Not Be the Midas Touch.

Relating to the previous post, here is another example of crowdfunding gone wrong.

“Catwalk Genius introduced the concept of ‘crowd-funding’ to the fashion industry. In short, anyone may buy shares in a new fashion collection. The funding collected is used to create a clothing range and the revenues from its sales are shared equally between designer, supporters and Catwalk Genius. Supporters are given perks in return for their support, such as signed design sketches or seats at a catwalk show.” (http://www.openbusiness.cc/2010/01/13/catwalk-genius/)

 After closing down they explain that they had difficulty providing a constantly adapting and appropriate web surface as well as boosting constant traffic on their sight.


Possible learnings from Catwalk Genius and Sew Love might be:
* Crowds don't just turn up out of nowhere and stay. Potential crowdsourcing members need to be directed to the website and
  constantly encouraged to stay active.
* Crowds don't seem to like financial commitments prior to the production.