New website puts fashion buyers over suppliers

An internet startup called Fashion Stake recently announced the launch of its website that attempts to put consumers in control of the latest fashion lines, according to Reuters.

The firm's leaders say that the website will allow customers to connect with blossoming fashion designers. The website lets users fund designers and help them with distribution.

The concept behind the website is called crowd sourcing. Advocates of the idea say it allows talented artists that otherwise may have been overlooked by the mainstream to build publicity through the social network.

Fashion Stake chief executive Daniel Gulati says that the website allows the public to be in charge of clothes that widely available, instead of being decided by big retailers.

"Why should we leave it up to just a couple of people to decide what the public wants?" says Gulati. "Let's actually just go straight to the crowd. It's a two-way conversation between brands and their fans. It's not a one way type of logic anymore."

Another website that uses so-called crowd sourcing is Spot.Us. The nonprofit website lets users commission journalists to write articles about under-covered topics.