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05/08/13 | Uncategorized

Custom Fashion Company Mika Spruces Up With $1.7M

The reason that so many top brands agreed to work with Mika, says Fenseko, is that most of the on-line retail world is about discounting and Mika is actually selling clothes at their full price photographed as if they appeared in Vogue or W. 

By Rachel Lehmann-Haupt (Editor, Women 2.0)

You know what it’s like when you’re getting ready for a board meeting and you just don’t have the mojo to pull together a great outfit. Elena Fesenko, the founder of the new startup Mika just raised $1.7M to solve this dilemma for women, according to Tech Crunch.

Mika showcases complete outfits that you can literally buy off the virtual model, often clothes that are bought directly from the designer’s showroom. The site goes beyond the traditional on-line catalogue filled with static images. Using video technology, the site shows the models in the outfits in full motion so shoppers can get the full view. It also includes interviews with the stylists.

Mika is working with well-known fashion bloggers such as Fashion Indie and Above the Law and fashion photographers Adrian Nina and Fadil Berate.

Fesenko grew up in the fashion industry and because of her connections she’s lined up relationships with 120 designers, including Cynthia Rowley, Anna Sui, Vince, Norma Kamali, Elie Tahari, Yigal Azrouel, DL1961, Kara Ross, Sigerson Morrison, and Tracy Reese. The reason that so many top brands agreed to work with Mika, says Fenseko, is that most of the on-line retail world is about discounting and Mika is actually selling clothes at their full price photographed as if they appeared in Vogue or W.

The company received $500,000 in seed funding in June, 2012 from the founders, friends and family, and from Saeed Amid of Plug and Play, and in February they closed a Series A of $1.2 million from Bobby Lent of Hillsven and Plug and Play.

Women 2.0 readers: What do think are Mika’s main startup challenges?

Rachel Lehmann-Haupt (rachel@women2.org) is an editor at Women 2.0. She also works with companies on the art of storytelling. This includes content strategy – blogs, web articles, contextual commerce, e-books and e-magazines – with the goal of better influencing and engaging audiences. She was a founding editor of TED Books and has published and edited numerous articles and books. Her interests include gender politics, working motherhood, urban innovation, health, and fashion. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Daily Beast, New York, Vogue, Self, Outside, and Wired.  Follow her on Twitter at @rlehmannhaupt.

Photo credit: Mika

 

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